


An Endless Sea

by jane_x80



Series: That Gray Vault, The Sea [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Motorcycles, Pre-Slash, U.S. Navy SEALs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-16 03:47:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15428361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/pseuds/jane_x80
Summary: Gibbs and the MCRT have to solve a double murder and their main suspect is a Navy SEAL. However, Gibbs keeps being distracted by the sexy and intriguing Commander of the SEAL Team.NOTE: This is an AU where Tony never became a cop and never joined NCIS.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smoxen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoxen/gifts).



> This story is for smoxen, who sent me [this picture as a prompt](https://www.cbs.com/shows/watch_magazine/photos/1007232/michael-weatherly-is-one-of-the-hottest-men-on-television/118803/easy-rider/) a few months ago. The muse has been very reluctant to write lately so when she latched on to the picture and saw the motorcycle, Tony in jeans and t-shirt, and the dog tags hanging around his neck? Yeah. That brought on this story. :)
> 
> This story is an AU. What if Tony never became a cop, and never joined NCIS?
> 
> I tried to weave some canon bits in and twist it a little, but yeah. Hopefully it works. The story takes place around what would be Season 9 of NCIS.
> 
> The title is from the lyrics of [Dust in the Wind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12DeNdF0KPA) (Kansas):  
>  _Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea_
> 
> The story is complete. I'll try to post a chapter a day for the next few days, my usual thing.
> 
> Hope you guys like this!

**Prologue**

What he loved most about his motorcycle was that it helped him drown out his own thoughts. His body was involved in all of the intricacies of riding a motorcycle – balancing and maneuvering the powerful machine under him – as well as paying attention to being on the road, which would generally be the same thing as if he were driving a car. But when on a motorcycle, he had to be extra aware of his surroundings as he was far more exposed and vulnerable than if he were in a car or a truck, and his maneuverability was exponentially better. Add to that the sound of his Ducati, revving up, roaring like a lion and the wind whipping around his body as he journeyed. It all kept his thoughts at bay, forcing him to focus on the open road and the here and now instead of the past or the future. He was free, at least for a little while, and it was time to enjoy his freedom.

It had been a decade and a half since he had been this free. It also had been a decade and a half since he’d been this _lost_. Oh, not physically, of course. He had a state of the art GPS, one that was much better than anything available on the commercial market. But he was adrift and lost, once again at a crossroads in his life, once again at a point in his life where he needed to change himself, realign who he was in his head and decide how to proceed to redefine himself outwardly. Riding a motorcycle around the country was much more preferable than trying to make life changing decisions.

He found himself riding down all kinds of roads – interstates, smaller state roads and even some county roads, just going wherever his motorcycle took him. The only decisions that he’d had to make in the last two weeks were which direction to turn when he came to an intersection, and whether he was tired enough to look for a place to sleep. Sometimes he spent the night in a motel, sometimes a nice hotel, he’d even slept under the sky a night or two here and there, actually getting the opportunity to enjoy nature without worrying about schedules, LZs or what would happen if he didn’t make his pick up time. The only consequences he had to worry about were only to himself and it was a relief. It was much easier than deciding which direction to take his life in.

Even though he was alone, he was never lonely. He found himself company in some of the towns he spent the night in, picking up women, even a few men to warm his bed. He was going with the flow, finally having the luxury of doing something just because he wanted to, and without greater consequence for once.

But every so often, no matter how hard he tried to stop himself, his mind would wander back to his life. He didn’t know what to do with himself now. Sure, he’d accepted the position they’d offered, since he hadn’t any idea what to do at that point. But he wasn’t sure if he was going to stick to it for very long. It really had never been in his plan. Not that he’d had a real plan per se, but he’d really enjoyed what he’d been doing for the past fifteen years. He hadn’t been looking for a change. He’d have been happy to finish out his career right where he had been. Unfortunately for him, change had found him.

He’d decided to stop for the night and sleep out in the open that night. He wheeled his motorcycle far off the county road, so he wouldn’t be visible from the road before he set up camp. Not that he was worried about his safety, he could handle just about anything even by himself, but there was no need to borrow trouble. All he needed was a small fire, MREs, and water and he was as happy as a clam. There was nothing better than having the stars shine down on him, have nowhere to be and no one to answer to, at least for this short period of time. He would chafe at the lack of direction if he continued down this path for much longer. His life had been so regimented for so long, he couldn’t imagine the rest of his life without some kind of discipline or structure. But it was nice to revel in the fact that he didn’t have anywhere to be right now. The weather was good and the sky was clear. It was a good night to spend outside.

He laid down and stared up at the sky, tracing constellations in his mind’s eye, situating himself in the world just by looking at the stars, like the sailors of old. Who needed a sophisticated electronic GPS? Really. It was definitely a good skill to have for someone in his profession. Or his _former_ profession. He kept forgetting that he couldn’t go back to doing exactly that now. Things had changed for him, sadly enough.

He turned his mind away from that depressing line of thought and wondered if he should get the little flask of scotch out of his duffel. His bad leg was aching and he rubbed it absently, wishing for the millionth time that it would just stop hurting. Unfortunately for him, no medication would affect it so he’d had to learn to live with it. But, he’d been good and not turned to the bottle despite the events of the last few months. He rarely drank, preferring to be in complete control of his faculties. But maybe it would be OK to drink a little that night. He thought about it for a few moments.

Oh, what the hell. Who would it hurt if he had a couple of swigs of scotch before turning in for the night? He’d brought the good stuff, too.

He had just started rummaging around in his duffel for his flask when his emergency satellite phone rang. He growled under his breath as he pulled that offending item out of his duffel instead of the flask that his old CO had gifted him all those years ago.

“Yeah,” he barked an answer, even as his heart sank.

Damn it. If the satphone rang, he had to answer. Even if he were on leave, he had to answer the goddamned satphone. And chances were, it would be bad news. The kind of news that would probably require him to end his little road trip and force him to go back to a new life that he wasn’t sure he wanted.

“Commander?”

He recognized the voice, and sighed, his heart sinking even further. “What is it, Baez?” Baez had been his trusted right hand man before things all went to hell. The best master chief a man could ever ask for. Baez was calling him on the satphone while he was technically on leave. This was not a good sign.

“Sorry to bother you on your… vacation, sir.”

“Sitrep, Chief?”

“I’ve been picked up by NCIS.”

“For?”

“Murder, sir.”

He sighed, blowing a breath out his nose noisily. “And?”

Baez understood what he was asking. “I didn’t do it,” he replied.

He cleared his throat. Baez was his brother in more ways than he could count. He knew Baez inside and out, and he knew when Baez was lying. This was _not_ one of those times. His road trip was definitely over now if Baez was being falsely accused of murder.

“Who was killed?” he asked.

“Margot,” Baez’s voice broke. “And Jen.”

“Fuck.” Margot was Baez’s ex-wife, and Jen was her wife. “Where’s Spencer?” Spencer was Baez’s son. Well, technically he was Margot’s son but Baez had come into their lives when Spencer was an infant. He’d adopted the boy and had been a father to him for practically his entire life.

“They won’t tell me where he is.”

“You call anyone else yet?” he asked.

“No, sir. You’re my one phone call, sir.”

“Your location?”

“DC. Navy Yard.”

“They read you your UCMJ rights?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then keep your mouth shut. Don’t talk to anyone. I’ll make some calls and get JAG on your case. And I’ll find out where Spencer is.”

“Thank you, sir,” the relief in his voice was palpable.

“I’ll be there in probably forty eight hours,” he mentally calculated the distance and the time it would take for him to get there by bike.

“Thank you, sir. All I ask is… Just make sure Spencer is safe.”

“Yeah. Who’s the lead agent on your case?”

“Some hard ass named Gibbs.”

He grunted. He didn’t know the name but that didn’t mean anything. Neither he nor his team had had much to do with NCIS. They tended to keep their noses clean, as a group.

“Don’t speak unless it’s to your JAG rep. He or she will tell you I sent them. Code three.” Code three meant a key phrase that only their platoon would know. He didn’t know what the hell was going on but if Baez, of all people, was accused of the murder of the mother of his son, then he wasn’t taking any chances.

“Will do, sir.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Thank you, sir. Sorry, sir.”

“Hang tight, Lobo,” he used Baez’s call sign.

“Will do.” Baez sounded more hopeful now.

He grunted an acknowledgement before he dialed Harmon Rabb and asked him to send someone for Baez, letting him know the specific Code three phrase to be used. Then he dialed his new assistant and was efficiently patched through to NCIS. He waited as the phone rang a couple times.

“Yeah, Gibbs,” a grumpy voice greeted him.

“I’m Master Chief Baez’s CO,” he began.

“Lieutenant Commander McCloud?”

“DiNozzo,” DiNozzo growled. “ _Commander_ DiNozzo.” He couldn’t help the slight emphasis on his new rank. Maybe it would do some good with this case. It had to be good for _something_ , for all the agita it had caused him.

“He brought in the big guns, huh?”

Or maybe not.

“JAG is on their way and I will be there in forty eight hours. That man is a SEAL and a decorated serviceman. Innocent until proven guilty should be forefront in your mind, Agent,” DiNozzo declared.

“Uh-huh,” the man was nonchalant.

“Where is his son?” DiNozzo demanded.

“Spencer Baez is with his mother’s sister.”

DiNozzo wracked his brain for a moment, trying to come up with a name. Margot's sister? Warning bells were ringing in his head. “Claire?” he was surprised.

“Yes, Claire. She came forward after her sister died.”

“Margot cut ties with her years ago. Did you do a background check? I believe Margot had a restraining order out against her,” he rubbed his forehead, trying to recall all the details of Baez’s ex-wife’s fucked up family. “Spencer shouldn’t be with her. I’m sending someone to get him so you’d better get your act together, Agent.”

“She stepped up…”

“How did she even know that Margot died?” DiNozzo growled. “Margot had good reason to cut her out of their lives. Spencer will be leaving her custody _tonight_ , Agent Gibbs. My men will see to it that he’s safe and with people he knows and trusts.”

The man responded with a grunt.

Tony rolled his eyes. “I’ll see you in forty eight hours and Master Chief Baez had better have been treated fairly.” He angrily cut the call before Gibbs could say anything else. Spencer was with Margot’s sister? That had to be fixed right away.

He made another call to his new assistant and asked him to send McCloud to pick Spencer up from Margot’s good for nothing sister’s ASAP, ask Valero – another of his men and someone whose kids were friends with Spencer – and his wife if they could take Spencer in until they figured things out, and to call him if there were any problems. Then he called Harmon Rabb back to let him know what was going on. After that, he hung up, packed his things, doused the fire and by rote, cleared the area so it hid the fact that he’d made camp there. He wasn’t on an op and didn’t need to worry about being tracked, but it was all so routine and ground into him by now, he couldn’t just walk away from a camp without clearing it thoroughly.

He shrugged on his leather jacket, zipped it up snugly, pulled on his helmet, strapped his duffel securely on, and wheeled his bike back to the road. It was time to get back to work. And maybe that was OK. At least it would stop him from worrying about the things that he could do nothing about. Maybe it was time to embrace his new future and stop trying to fight it. Everything changes and he had to change with it. He’d rebuilt himself before. He could do it one more time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG you guys are awesome!!! Thank you for all the lovely comments, kudos and bookmarks. I'll reply after I post this chapter. I can't believe how sweet you all are, thank you! <3 <3
> 
> Hopefully the rest of the story won't disappoint. This chapter is in Kate's POV. Yes, she's alive. More on that in a later chapter. This is an AU, right? :D

**Part One: Kate**

Kate and McGee were about to leave the building for a short dinner break when a motorcycle roared up, all sleek and powerful and growling sexily. The rider parked it in the middle of a parking spot – a handicap accessible spot, Kate thought grimly – put down the stand and swung himself off the machine. Kate took in the figure, from the worn brown boots, blue jeans that were well worn and comfortable, hugging his slim hips and encasing long, lean legs, up to the brown leather jacket zipped all the way up. He pulled his helmet off and squinted in the evening sun, running his fingers through his short brown hair, seemingly oblivious to the fact that everyone in sight was watching him.

OK so it was bad enough that the motorcycle looked huge and very expensive and sounded like a wild animal growling. The man looked fit and buff, and he’d just roared right into a handicap spot without any qualms. A handicap spot! A motorcycle like that and he was dick enough to take a handicap spot? And then it was the fact that when he took his helmet off, Kate realized that he was one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen. High cheekbones, straight nose, intense green eyes, so intense she could see it from where she stood. He stretched a little and rubbed at his right leg. Then he swept his eyes around him and Kate could tell that his eyes missed nothing. He unzipped his brown leather jacket, revealing a v-neck white t-shirt that hugged his broad chest and his defined pectorals and emphasized his golden skin. The man was tanned, and it didn’t look like the kind that came in a bottle. The dog tags hanging halfway down his chest also drew her eyes.

The man took another look around, meeting Kate and McGee’s eyes without hesitation before he unstrapped the duffel and swung it over his shoulder. Apparently Hot Biker Soldier didn’t trust leaving his bag on his bike if he was walking away from it.

Someone pushed past Kate and McGee in the doorway from inside the building and Kate saw that it was Lieutenant Commander McCloud. He marched up to the man and saluted crisply. The newcomer saluted back and broke into a grin, revealing deep dimples in his cheek and a mischievous glint in his eyes. Who was this man that was so casually dressed, no uniforms, insignias or any indication of rank that the SEAL CO was saluting so respectfully? Hot Biker Soldier was apparently Hot Biker SEAL.

“Commander,” McCloud greeted him before pulling the man into a tight hug, and they embraced, slapping each other’s backs. McCloud pulled away and scrutinized the man. “Looking good, sir.”

“Chicks seem to dig it,” the Commander said drolly as he rolled his eyes and snorted.

“Hair got long.” McCloud yanked at it in disapproval.

“Chicks seem to dig it,” the Commander repeated, this time with an impish grin.

“You feeling good, Tony?”

“Fighting fit, Mac,” the man said grimly. “Update me on Baez? Why is he still in custody? I was expecting to be debriefed on base, not here picking Baez up.”

“Rabb’s in there trying to talk some sense into these people,” McCloud shook his head.

“Harm’s here?”

McCloud nodded.

“Good. And Spencer?”

“He’s in my car with Baylor, sir.” McCloud pointed and the newcomer turned to look. A black Hummer was parked a row or so down. The windows rolled down and a boy stuck his head out and waved. Kate recognized him, he was Spencer Baez. The Commander waved back before he turned back to McCloud.

“Good. Any trouble extracting him from the sister?”

“Nope,” McCloud smirked. Kate could see the arrogance and the satisfaction in McCloud’s expression and it made her blood boil. These guys just did as they pleased! Starting with their stupid Commander with the stupidly good looking face, parking wherever he wanted and figuring he’d get away with murder.

“Have we taken legal action against that bitch?”

“Of _course_ , sir,” McCloud gave him a disappointed look.

The Commander grinned approvingly. “Of course you have.” Both men were sporting feral grins now. “Have you _A Few Good Men_ -ned these guys, too?”

“No, because if we had then you’d be the one being charged, being the CO and all. Have you forgotten that little detail about that movie? Besides, you know we _need_ you on that wall.”

The green eyed man laughed at that. “Let’s get in there and get Baez out before I start on that little speech,” he clapped McCloud on the shoulder. “He’s been in custody long enough.”

“Team’s about ready to storm the Yard and extract him themselves.”

The Commander rolled his eyes. “Let’s hold off on drastic measures for now, at least. The civilian casualties could be astronomical if we did that.”

“We could pull it off with no collateral damage.”

Kate watched as the Commander looked around the parking lot, noting the security checkpoints, and eyed her building thoughtfully. Kate could practically see him figuring out entry points and egresses, what equipment he needed to bring, and how to break someone out of their secure holding cells.

“I bet we could,” he agreed thoughtfully. “But let’s call storming the Yard a last resort, huh?”

McCloud shook his head, still grinning. “This way, sir.”

Kate and McGee were still standing there, gaping at the two men, as they walked towards the building. Kate realized that the newcomer had to be Commander Anthony D. DiNozzo, the man who had called in reinforcements for their prime suspect, and the man had roared in as if he owned the place, parked in a fucking handicap access spot, thought he could successfully ‘storm’ her building, and apparently was under the deluded impression that he was god’s gift to women. She saw him look her up and down slightly dismissively before turning his attention back to McCloud and that immediately annoyed her.

What an asshole! He wasn’t _that_ good looking. Just because he was a SEAL and a Commander didn’t mean that he could just dismiss her with a look. The agent was quickly reminded of the fact that there were no women SEALs. He was probably one of those macho sexist pigs who thought he knew everything and owned everything just because he was fucking handsome. Hell, maybe he was one of those people who purposely made it so women wouldn’t make the grade to become a SEAL. He’d probably been handed the world on a platter since he was born. He had no idea how to struggle through anything, the asshole.

“Go and tell Gibbs that Commander DiNozzo is here,” she ordered McGee, who nodded and scrambled back into the building.

DiNozzo, she was sure it was him now, stared at her. He must have heard her. After all, she could hear him and McCloud talking.

“Lieutenant Commander McCloud,” Kate greeted the two men. “Commander DiNozzo, I presume?”

Those green eyes looked bored but he nodded politely, acknowledging her.

“Agent Caitlin Todd,” McCloud nodded at her. “She’s on Gibbs’ team. The profiler.”

DiNozzo nodded again, looking at her with a little more interest now. Kate looked him up and down and realized that every bit of clothing that he wore had at one time been couture. His clothes were well worn, but she would bet that brand new, his boots had cost as much as one of her paychecks. She didn’t even want to speculate as to how much his jacket would have cost, and this annoyed her even more. Some rich boy asshole CO, dressed like he was in a magazine shoot – the pretty boy actor slumming it in his casual yet expensive clothes, coming in trying to take over? She looked forward to seeing how this was going to blow up with Gibbs.

Gibbs hadn’t been happy when Harmon Rabb himself had come down to defend Baez. This upstart SEAL Team commander who didn’t even look old enough to be the Commander of the entire SEAL Team Four wasn’t going to stand a chance against one angry Marine. She snickered inwardly, looking forward to the fireworks.

They came out of the elevator into the squad room and Kate led them to the bullpen where McGee was back to typing away at his computer, Gibbs impatiently looking over his shoulder. Gibbs almost did a double take when he saw the newcomer, striding in with a duffel over his shoulder. Kate had never seen that look on his face before and she watched as Gibbs outright stared at the man. Not a death glare, mind you, but a full on, can’t take his eyes off the man stare.

“DiNozzo,” the Commander held out a hand.

Gibbs took a second to respond. “Gibbs,” he took the proffered hand and they exchanged a firm, manly, macho handshake. Although Kate saw that Gibbs’ eyes narrowed suspiciously as he took in the jeans and t-shirt-clad figure.

“I came straight from the road, so forgive the informality,” DiNozzo said, gesturing vaguely at himself. Kate wondered why he wasn’t in uniform. What kind of CO rolled into NCIS wearing jeans and a t-shirt anyway?

“I told you that Commander DiNozzo is still on convalescent leave,” McCloud growled, seeing Gibbs’ look.

Gibbs cocked a head at McCloud and raised an eyebrow.

“He looks pretty convalesced to me,” Kate muttered, and McCloud scowled at her, his blue eyes sharp and angry now.

“Who the hell is in charge of this goat fuck,” McCloud muttered, eyes still on Kate.

“We’re here for Baez,” DiNozzo stated firmly, cutting in and interrupting McCloud. “He’s been in your custody for forty eight hours. Has he been charged with anything?”

“No,” a voice came from down the hallway. Captain Harmon Rabb of JAG stalked over to the bullpen. “Baez has not been charged. You’ve held him for longer than regulations, Gibbs. Release him or charge him.”

Gibbs looked grim and McGee couldn’t keep the frustration out of his face, but Rabb came over and gave DiNozzo a big smile before pulling him into a hug. Kate saw that Gibbs was surprised by the move. He and Rabb went back many years and there might be some kind of bad blood between them, but apparently Rabb giving a SEAL a hug was one of the few things that could surprise the team lead.

“Good to see you back on your feet, Commander,” Rabb told him. “Looking good.”

DiNozzo waved it away, but smiled back. “Good to see you, Harm,” he greeted the man. Then he looked back at Gibbs and the MCRT. “If you have nothing on him, I’m here to take him back to base.”

Gibbs growled under his breath. “He’s guilty.”

“He’s not,” DiNozzo growled right back. “I spoke to him and I know my men. Baez didn’t do this. He and Margot had a great relationship even after the divorce. He gave her away when she married Jen and Spencer was her best man. There is no way the man is capable of harming one hair on Margot’s head. What the fuck is the problem here?”

“He has no alibi.”

“ _I’ve_ got no fucking alibi,” DiNozzo grumbled. “You gonna arrest me, too?”

“Technically, the satphone coordinates put you in Arizona at the time of the murder, sir,” McCloud piped up. “So you have more of an alibi than Baez does.”

DiNozzo rolled his eyes and gave McCloud an exasperated look. “OK so I have satphone coordinates. What do you have on Baez?”

“He was at home alone at the time of death,” Rabb said.

“No one can corroborate it,” Gibbs added.

“He lives alone when Spencer isn’t with him,” DiNozzo said calmly. “It would surprise me if someone _could_ alibi him out.”

“No one can corroborate it but no one can disprove it either,” Rabb added, glaring at Gibbs.

“Where was Spencer?” DiNozzo asked.

“At a friend’s for a sleepover. It’s why he went to his moms’ instead of staying the weekend with Baez, which had been the original plan,” McCloud supplied. “He came home after the sleepover, found his moms, and called 9-1-1.” McCloud sniffed. “Would’ve been better if he called me.”

“Shit… How’s Spencer doing?” Kate was surprised at the level of empathy DiNozzo expressed with that question.

“Not good, sir. He was about ready to take down his aunt when we went to get him. He _is_ Baez’s kid, after all,” McCloud’s tone was grim. “Poor kid lost his moms, is upset that they’ve arrested his dad for no reason, and then his aunt was there spewing hatred in his ear.”

DiNozzo’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the NCIS agents. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you released a traumatized boy into the custody of a woman his murdered mother had a restraining order against,” his tone was calm, but the threat was palpable.

Gibbs bristled and opened his mouth and Kate geared herself for one of Gibbs’ famous explosions.

“I don’t want to hear it,” DiNozzo interrupted Gibbs, dropping his duffel bag and crossing his arms, his stance loose and relaxed but Kate could definitely see the physicality of the pose, the coiled energy just waiting to be released. She wanted to cringe a little, especially when McCloud assumed the same pose, his expression grim. Gibbs was a marine, sure, and one hell of a tough mother. She thought he could maybe take one SEAL. But two? They weren’t SEALs for no reason. But surprisingly, Gibbs quieted down and just stared at the Commander.

“Release Baez or charge him. Either you let him go and he walks out of here now, or you charge him with something and we post bail and he walks out of here now. He’s not staying in a cell one more night.” DiNozzo was polite but firm.

DiNozzo’s determined tone made Kate wonder if they would, in fact, have any collateral damage should he choose to deploy his team to extract Baez from their holding cells. SEALs were sent all over the world to do just this sort of thing, weren’t they? And they didn’t have a fearsome reputation for nothing. Looking at DiNozzo and McCloud standing together, and imagining a whole platoon of men like them, she could see how they could break Baez out of holding without collateral damage. She wasn’t sure how many agents would survive, but if they mounted an op against them, agents wouldn’t be counted as collateral damage, would they?

McGee and Kate both exchanged looks before looking questioningly at their team lead. Gibbs nodded reluctantly and McGee left, Rabb going with the chubby young agent.

“I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement,” DiNozzo stated, relaxed again. “Mac, you driving Baez back?” His tone was as casual as if they were discussing who would be the designated driver before going out for drinks. As if they hadn’t just been on the brink of violence a half a minute ago.

McCloud nodded.

DiNozzo turned back to the team.

“I suggest you go over the case from the beginning, Agent Gibbs,” the Commander’s intense green eyes flicked to Gibbs. “You’re out to prove that Master Chief Baez killed his ex-wife and her wife. You should focus on the whole case and not just on the only suspect you have. If Baez murdered someone, you can bet that you wouldn’t have ever suspected him or caught him. We’re SEALs. We know how to get things done without being noticed.”

Kate snorted at that. “You think you’re hot stuff?”

“We’re SEAL Team Four, Agent Todd,” DiNozzo said politely, his green eyes flashing with suppressed anger. “Our record speaks for us.”

Kate made another sound of disgust. “Even SEALs commit murder.”

DiNozzo raised an eyebrow in lazy disdain at McCloud and that made Kate burn.

“And don’t think that we didn’t notice that you parked illegally. You’ll be lucky if that bike is still in the handicap space,” Kate snarled.

DiNozzo’s eyes widened. “You’re objecting to where I parked my bike?” he asked carefully.

“It’s not like you’re disabled or anything,” Kate glared at him.

“Riiiight,” DiNozzo’s breathed softly, eyes wide with shock.

“Ten seconds to unfuck herself,” McCloud said, teeth clenched.

“Mac,” DiNozzo’s voice was soft, but the warning was clear.

“Some profiler,” McCloud muttered, and Kate turned her glare on him, too.

“Right,” DiNozzo said again, and ignored Kate, pointedly turning back to Gibbs. “I’m not asking you to forget that Baez is a convenient suspect. I’m just asking you to fucking do your job and investigate the case fully before you try to interrogate my man any further. You think two days with you…” he jerked his chin arrogantly at Gibbs. “What are you, a Marine? Sniper, if I’m reading you right. You think a SEAL is going to break in two days when interrogated by a jarhead sniper? You think you can intimidate him into a false confession?” he scoffed. “Please. Baez is a bullfrog and the best there is. He told me he didn’t do it, so he didn’t do it. Don’t make us investigate Margot’s murder ourselves because we absolutely will and you won’t like it when we do that.”

Gibbs and DiNozzo were staring at each other, at an impasse, Gibbs’ blue eyes ice cold and DiNozzo’s were spitting fire when Rabb, McGee and Master Chief Baez appeared.

“Commander DiNozzo, Sir,” Baez snapped out a crisp salute to DiNozzo, who automatically returned it. It was still weird to see someone so casually dressed being saluted so respectfully.

DiNozzo broke into a wide smile, one that showcased his dimples, and his eyes crinkled attractively. “Lobo,” he grinned and Baez pulled him into a tight hug, which he returned with no reservations. Baez was six inches taller than him and outweighed him by at least sixty pounds, and the man picked him up and squeezed him tight like he was a rag doll.

“Good to see you, cabron,” Baez’s grip on his CO was tight. “Fuck, sir. It’s real good to see you.”

“You, too,” DiNozzo thumped his back. “Now put me the fuck down before I kick your ass.”

Baez huffed out a laugh, gave him a final squeeze before he gently set him back on his feet and looked him up and down closely. “You look good, puta.”

DiNozzo grunted. “Next person who tells me that is going to get his ass kicked from here back to Little Creek.”

“Brinkley’ll just kiss you when he sees you,” Baez grinned. “We’re all just happy you’re back, sir.”

“I’m betting Brinkley’ll get the Commander’s k-bar in the ribs if he does that,” McCloud snickered. “Might be worth it to see that.”

“Captain Rabb tells me you have Spencer?” Baez turned to McCloud.

“In the car waiting for you with Baylor,” McCloud assured him.

“ _Baylor?_ You know what Baylor’s mouth is like! Fuck, my kid is going to come out of there swearing like a motherfucking sailor!” Baez grumbled. “His mother’s going to fucking _kill_ me.” He blanched when he realized what he said and DiNozzo reached up to squeeze his shoulder reassuringly.

Kate couldn’t help but doubt Baez’s guilt now, even though she’d been the one to push to keep him in their custody. He was a big man, a powerful man, and capable of the kind of brutality that his ex-wife and her wife had suffered and died from. His wife was married to another woman now, for god’s sake. Wouldn’t that make anyone angry? But yet, seeing him with his team now, and the affection and care they had for each other, she was starting to doubt her earlier assumptions.

“We’ll find out who killed Margot and Jen,” DiNozzo said, his tone a promise. “Even if NCIS won’t.” The dangerous look he gave Gibbs and his team again set Kate’s heart beating hard in her chest and she didn’t even know why. “We all set here?” he turned to Rabb.

Rabb nodded. “Baez is free to go.”

“For now,” Gibbs growled.

DiNozzo rolled his eyes, and ignored Gibbs. Then Kate watched as McCloud and Baez both tried to grab DiNozzo’s duffel. Two grown men, SEALs both of them, fighting over who got to carry their CO’s bag. Brown nosers, the lot of them. Kate forgot her earlier thought about how the team seemed to care for each other.

The Commander pulled it away from the two of them with a sigh. “I’m not a fucking invalid,” he grumbled.

The three SEALs headed back to the elevator. Kate kept her eyes on them, all three of them ridiculously fit with the kind of bodies that most men would trade their immortal souls for. She noted that DiNozzo was now walking with an almost imperceptible limp.

“You did just ride your motorcycle for almost forty eight hours straight to get here, you idiot,” McCloud grumbled, still trying to take the duffel bag away from his CO. “That would cripple any man. You should let us do what we can.”

“Why you had to ‘convalesce’ on a cross country motorcycle road trip, that’s the question I need answered, cabron,” Baez interjected, looking as if he wanted to pick up his CO and the duffel bag and get it over with.

“I couldn’t just leave my baby at an airport parking lot!” DiNozzo objected.

“Could’ve left it at a base and we’d have retrieved it for you so you could’ve caught a transpo back to base,” McCloud continued, as if DiNozzo and Baez hadn’t said anything.

“I’m here now, so can we drop it?”

“You can ride in the car with Baylor and Baez and you’re headed straight to the medic tonight before you’re allowed to do anything else,” McCloud continued.

“I hate the medic,” DiNozzo whined. “He has big needles. You know how I feel about needles.”

“You’re headed to the medic even if Spencer and I have to escort you there ourselves,” Baez added. “You gonna chicken out in front of my kid?”

DiNozzo sighed loudly and pulled out his keys, looking like he was about to make a break for it. But McCloud snatched his CO’s keys, still ignoring him.

“I’ll take the Ducati back to base,” he exclaimed with glee.

“She’d better be gassed up when I get her back, asshole,” DiNozzo sighed but didn’t try to get his keys back. “I know you’re going joyriding.”

“She’s a sweet machine. You bet your ass I’m going joyriding,” McCloud sassed him.

They disappeared into the elevator and Kate and McGee exchanged another look before they realized that Harmon Rabb was still in the bullpen, glaring at them, apparently just waiting for the SEALs to leave.

“What now, Rabb?” Gibbs crossed his arms, giving Rabb his trademark death glare.

“I suggest you investigate the case, as suggested by Commander DiNozzo. And also, you should look up what hasn’t been redacted on SEAL Team Four before you run around talking shit about DiNozzo,” the second half of the sentence was hissed at Kate. “I heard what you were saying to him.”

“He parked in a handicap space!” Kate objected.

Rabb rolled his eyes. “I highly suggest you get your head together and stop making snap judgments. You’re supposed to be a profiler. Use your skills instead of your emotions,” he said. He turned and left them.

Gibbs looked thoughtful for a moment. “Why haven’t we looked into the sister?” he asked Kate and McGee.

“Baez argued with Margot before he left. The neighbors saw them,” McGee shrugged.

“Outside, in public.”

Kate and McGee nodded.

“So if someone was watching them, they could have taken advantage of the opportunity that Baez and Margot argued in public,” Gibbs muttered. “To throw suspicion on him.”

“That _is_ possible, I suppose,” Kate said, her tone dubious.

“Why did Claire Darcy immediately take custody of her nephew?” Gibbs asked them.

“Kate did the background check and cleared her,” McGee, the traitor, gave her up.

“She had an alibi,” Kate defended herself.

“Double check it. DiNozzo said they’ve been on the outs for years.”

“She did openly badmouth her sister’s lesbian marriage,” McGee stuttered. “Right in front of me. And the kid.”

“Some people believe that it’s wrong,” Kate shrugged.

“Keep your personal feelings about gay marriage out of this,” Gibbs warned her. “This might turn out to be a hate crime.”

“You believe DiNozzo?” Kate was shocked by what Gibbs was saying.

Gibbs made a face.

“McGee, let’s see what we can find out about this Commander DiNozzo, huh?” Kate said slyly. Maybe she could see just what kind of an asshole the CO was.

Gibbs nodded slowly. Kate wondered what the hell was going on with him because he seemed much quieter than he usually was. He didn’t have a screaming match with DiNozzo, for one, and she’d expected that. After all, she’d overheard him and Vance screaming at each other many a time and Gibbs winning every time. But Gibbs had let him just talk over him and that wasn’t normal Gibbs behavior.

McGee typed away at his computer for a few minutes before displaying items on the plasma. Commander DiNozzo, apparently a newly minted Commander, had been Lieutenant Commander DiNozzo only six months ago. A platoon leader, and not the whole SEAL Team leader back then. Six months ago his platoon had been deployed in a redacted location, and due to bad intel, half of them didn’t make it out. DiNozzo pulled McCloud and a couple others out and had gone back in to help more people, but after another explosion, he’d been trapped, too. Baez had been the one to go in and extract him. DiNozzo came out of that op listed as critically injured – internal injuries resulting in the loss of a kidney and amputation of his right leg above the knee. There were pictures and even Kate had to admit that they were gruesome and horrendous. That DiNozzo even survived was a miracle.

Despite all of this, DiNozzo lived. He underwent physical therapy, had been fitted with a prosthetic leg, and had trained to get back to SEAL fitness. Of course, his career as a SEAL in the field was over, so instead of being offered his platoon back or retiring him due to disability, they had promoted him to SEAL Team lead. He wouldn’t be back out in the field with his men, but he was still a SEAL, one of the best, most experienced men, apparently. He was still officially on convalescent leave and wasn’t scheduled to assume his new command for another two weeks. He’d come back early because Baez had called him. And Baez had called him instead of his direct CO McCloud because he and DiNozzo had been tight for years. DiNozzo had been his direct CO for years prior to that op six months ago.

Kate sat down, feeling blood drain from her face. “He parked in a handicap space…” she gasped.

“Because he’s an amputee, Kate,” Gibbs rolled his eyes. “Did you even look at his plates?”

“But he rode a motorcycle!” she yelled.

“People with disabilities can ride motorcycles,” McGee piped up. “Haven’t you watched the Paralympics? People with disabilities can do anything.”

“Oh fuck,” Kate groaned. “No wonder they all looked at me like that.”

“It seems that Commander DiNozzo is as heroic as they come. Baez’s record is nothing less as we know,” Gibbs nodded. “Nothing actually points to Baez as being his ex-wife’s murderer, other than the fact that he argued with her earlier that day, and he has no alibi. Get Abby up here. We need to go over the case from scratch. If Baez is guilty, the evidence will point to him. And if he’s not, then someone is out there who murdered two women and orphaned a little boy. We need to catch the perp.”

McGee nodded and picked up the phone.

Kate groaned again and rubbed her face. Time to get back to work. She’d better just order in Chinese as there was no way Gibbs was going to let them go home or take a break that evening. Especially since Kate was the one who had cleared Claire Darcy to take custody of her nephew, and had missed the restraining order Margot Baez had put out against her. Gibbs was not going to let that go soon. A kid was involved and Kate knew well enough what Gibbs was like when a kid was involved.

She was so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Gibbs' POV. :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am seriously, seriously amazed and touched by your reactions to the story so far! You guys are awesome. I love you all <3 <3
> 
> I'll reply to your lovely comments after I've edited and posted this chapter (and yes, Appletini I NEED to edit :P).
> 
> And now here is the first chapter of Gibbs' POV. Ahem. I hope you noticed that the number of chapters has gone up to 5? I realized that the Gibbs' POV was getting way too big and would totally upset the balance of words per chapter I was going for. So I divided it into two chapters. You'll get another chapter of Gibbs' POV tomorrow and the final chapter (Tony's POV) the following day. Hope you guys like this!

**Part Two: Gibbs**

Gibbs was in his basement, sanding his boat, letting his body work, soothing himself with the quiet routine of making smooth the surface of the wood. It had taken two weeks, but his team had finally solved the case of the murder of Margot and Jennifer Baez. It was interesting how Margot had kept Baez’s name after the divorce and when she and her wife married, Jennifer had taken the Baez name as well. It turned out that, as DiNozzo had stated, Baez had given Margot away at her wedding to Jennifer, and their son Spencer had been her best man. By all accounts, it had been a happy occasion attended by Baez’s entire platoon. They were a tight group of people, and none of them had anything bad to say about Baez or his ex-wife.

It was true that Baez and Margot had been seen arguing outside their house earlier that day, but that was because Baez didn’t like the family of the kid that was hosting the sleepover. As a rule, Baez and his ex-wife tended to have controversial discussions outside the house so Spencer wouldn’t overhear them. They were of the opinion that they should always present a united front with regard to Spencer, so they took any disagreements outside, out of his hearing. It was rare that they ever disagreed about how to raise Spencer, and it was one of the few, rare occasions that they’d needed to talk about things outside. But Gibbs couldn’t fault the couple for not wanting to drag their son into adult discussions and decision making. The argument itself didn’t even turn out to be that much of an argument. It wasn’t like they had a screaming match. McGee went back to the neighbors to ask about it. Apparently, they had a heated discussion where in the end, Margot insisted that Spencer wanted to go to this sleepover and she had already given him permission so they weren’t going to argue about it anymore and that was that. Baez had then gone back in the house with Margot and spent time with his son. And when he left, he didn’t seem to be angry. The neighbors had not heard any yelling.

But yet, Baez did not have an alibi. The man lived alone and had no witnesses to confirm that he’d been at home during the time of the murders, which was a bit of a sticking point.

However, Gibbs, like Baez, also lived alone. If someone accused Gibbs of something when he was not working, he would most likely never have an alibi either. It wasn’t like he went out socializing with people. He liked to stay home and work on his boat. Baez was also kind of a homebody. Even though Baez might not have had an alibi and he and Margot had had an argument outside her house before Margot was murdered, the fact remained that he was still also a decorated SEAL and a man who had, by all accounts, maintained a good relationship with his ex-wife and peacefully shared custody of a ten year old that he’d officially adopted when he and Margot married. When Baez had been arrested, he had immediately been concerned for his son instead of his own freedom. He hadn’t displayed the usual behavior of a guilty man, just that of a concerned father and a grumpy SEAL falsely accused of murder. Gibbs’ gut hadn’t liked Baez as a suspect and he should have listened to it.

Margot’s sister, Claire though, had a much more interesting history. She belonged to a right-wing extremist group, and had somehow escaped jail time or any serious charges even though she had a string of minor infractions like vandalism when caught tagging walls with anti-homosexual slogans. Each time she had been let off with a fine or community service. After Margot and Baez divorced and she took up with Jennifer, Claire had hounded and harassed her sister for her new relationship, such that Margot had had to take out a restraining order against her and cut off all ties with her. In addition, Claire had an on again off again boyfriend, a member of the same group she was affiliated with, who _had_ been arrested and _had_ done a couple of short stints in jail, mostly for hate-crime related offenses. Once they started looking in this direction, it became easy to unravel and Gibbs’ team was able to find evidence connecting Claire and her boyfriend, along with two other members of the same right-wing extremist group had murdered Margot and Jennifer Baez. They had all been arrested and awaiting charges of two counts of hate crime murders.

Gibbs didn’t know how Kate had missed this about Claire Darcy when she ran the background check. It was as if Kate had decided who was and wasn’t guilty without doing an investigation. She’d taken one look at the convenient ex-husband who was a big man, a SEAL capable of beating his ex-wife to death, who didn’t have an alibi, and she’d decided that he was guilty. Her background check of Claire Darcy had to have been quite cursory because she had missed not just the restraining order her own sister had out on her, but also her record of misdemeanors, which while not anything serious, certainly pointed to a certain pattern of behavior.

Gibbs had been furious that they had kept an innocent man in holding for so long, not looking at the investigation properly, and he’d been beside himself when he realized that they had actually allowed a child to be put in Claire Darcy’s custody. Kate Todd was in the doghouse now. If she thought that getting a bullet through her cell phone at the firing range several years ago was bad, she was not going to like what he was planning to do to her this time. He’d even put a formal reprimand in her file for this. Just because Claire was a woman, and looked harmless, didn’t mean that she was harmless. It was about time for Kate to have an attitude adjustment. He’d noticed her bias against same sex couples on other cases as well, and while everyone was entitled to their own personal opinions and beliefs, there was no place for such prejudice in the workplace, and certainly not in solving these cases. Gibbs realized that it was time for him to wake up and do more with his team. Burley was gone, and his team was obviously destabilizing and had been for a while, and he needed to fix that. At this point, he was just glad that they had now actually solved the case and arrested the actual perpetrators.

Even so, the case, while tragic and filled with its share of wild goose chases, wasn’t really what jumped out at Gibbs. This time, he couldn’t get the enigmatic Commander DiNozzo out of his head. He’d seen how Lieutenant Commander McCloud had genuinely cared for the man, and the NCO Baez greeted him like a long lost family member. Hell, Baez had called DiNozzo instead of McCloud with his one phone call, trusting that DiNozzo would take care of everything. Which the man did, in spite of being on convalescent leave and apparently bumming around the country on his motorcycle. He’d gotten Baez’s son out of the hands of the woman who had murdered his mothers, and forced Kate to stop looking at Baez as the end all and be all for all of the murders. She’d been so hot to pin it on Baez that they hadn’t looked at the case holistically. Baez was 6’ 7”, built like a mac truck, and was a SEAL who had had an argument with his ex-wife who’d then remarried to a woman. Kate had immediately latched on the obvious suspect, and inconveniently for him, Baez didn’t have an alibi.

Gibbs deeply regretted that they had been derailed by Kate’s personal feelings on this matter. It was ultimately his fault, as team lead, and he would absolutely be watching for and guarding himself and his team against this from now on. Kate had a sharp tongue and wielded her womanhood like a weapon at times. Gibbs needed to make her use her higher reasoning skills again. There was a reason why they couldn’t keep a fourth member of the team. He was a bastard and Kate wasn’t much better. Why McGee never quit was probably more a product of his upbringing than anything else. Gibbs should really put some effort into looking for a fourth team member. Currently, they had a marine, a profiler and a hacker on the team. What they needed now to round them out was someone with perhaps an investigative or police background, and a personality such that they would be able to stand Gibbs and Kate, look at their investigations objectively, be strong enough to stand up to both Gibbs and Kate, and be socially savvy enough to liaise with other LEOs. Neither Gibbs nor Kate played well with others, and McGee was still too scared of his own shadow to be an effective liaison. Tall order, that. But Gibbs resolved to start looking again for someone to round out his team.

But now, after this case was over and done with, reports written, suspects arrested – this time with evidence to back everything up – Gibbs couldn’t help but keep thinking about Commander DiNozzo. He couldn’t get the photos of DiNozzo’s injuries just six months ago out of his head, and comparing what he’d looked like then to his condition now. He understood why the SEALs had been so concerned and protective of him. His injuries had been quite severe back then, but looking at him now, you really couldn’t tell that anymore.

When DiNozzo had strolled into the bullpen with McCloud and Kate, wearing blue jeans, a simple white t-shirt, and a leather jacket, flaunting his dog tags openly on his chest, Gibbs’ couldn’t help but stare at the man. His heart stuttered in his chest, his mouth went dry, and butterflies started going crazy in his belly. He felt as if he’d been tackled to the ground and punched in the face. He felt numb and cold and hot and anxious, all at once. Because DiNozzo was gorgeous. His big green eyes took in everything and everyone, and he walked with a deliberately casual gait, which Gibbs knew had to disguise the readiness for action that SEAL-trained men had. Gibbs didn’t understand quite what was going on for a second because he was completely taken aback, not just by DiNozzo’s stunning looks but his own reaction to the man without even exchanging one word with him. It wasn’t like Gibbs had never seen gorgeous people before. Of course he had. But there was something about Commander DiNozzo that just called to him.

In the bullpen that evening, McCloud was slightly agitated, Gibbs could tell. Although he wasn’t entirely sure why he seemed to be acting in an almost doting fashion towards his commanding officer. Of course, they found out later why DiNozzo’s men were so protective of him, but at the time McCloud’s care and dedication seemed out of place. But DiNozzo’s presence was electric and he’d immediately gotten Kate’s back up.

Not that that was surprising, really. Gibbs knew exactly what it was about DiNozzo that bothered Kate. He was good looking, head turningly so, and confident, he was used to command and wore it easily, not bothering to hide himself. Kate probably took it as an insult that he was a SEAL and that there were no women in the SEALs, and Commander DiNozzo immediately became a figurehead for her to blame things on. She was easy to predict at times. She’d seen the motorcycle DiNozzo rode, and lumped him into some misogynistic macho man stereotype even before she’d had a full conversation with him. And DiNozzo had apparently ridden almost forty eight hours straight on his motorcycle to get to DC from Arizona because one of his men had been arrested, so he wasn’t in the mood to sweet talk anyone into anything. He just wanted to get his man and leave. And that he’d stayed aloof and professional probably made him instantly a boor in Kate’s eyes.

Gibbs sighed. She really needed to quit it with the snap judgments based entirely on her emotional reactions toward a person. Yes, everyone did it, but most people weren’t as tied to their first impression of someone the way Kate was. Sometimes, when she got something a certain way in her head, she stuck to it come hell or high water and forced people to conform to the mold she’d built for them. She was often incapable of stepping back and actually getting to know someone, redefining them in her head, and allowing her understanding of them to evolve as time went on. It was probably why McGee was still so lacking in confidence and always relegated to doing computer-based things, even if he was supposed to be a field agent despite Gibbs trying to get him to be more active in the field. But since Kate was his Senior Field Agent and he depended on her to help train McGee, it did make it difficult for the poor kid to break free of the box that Kate had locked him in. Shit, he probably needed to do something about that, too.

He missed Burley a lot, especially during times like this. He still had nightmares of him with that bullet in his head on that rooftop long ago. Burley had been a calming influence on both him and Kate. His death had upset the balance. Kate had lost it when Burley was killed. So much so that when Jenny had tried to place Ari Haswari’s handler on the team after Burley died, Kate had thrown the biggest fit he’d ever seen and Ziva David had been sent packing back to Israel.

Kate had accused Shepard of colluding with Mossad for the murder of Burley, refusing to believe that Ziva David hadn’t known what her brother Ari was about to do. Kate had stalked Gibbs after that, creepily lying in wait in his basement, and had been the one to kill Ari that day when he came to kill Gibbs right in his own basement. She had been livid that his handler, his half-sister, whatever the hell she was to Ari would be allowed anywhere near NCIS after that clusterfuck, and she had been right. As it turned out, Jenny’s mental capacity had been eroding for years due to a tumor that she had discovered late and refused to get treated. It probably would have been a disaster to have both Ziva and Kate on the same team, especially when Kate was on a rampage having been there when Burley had been killed. She and Burley had had a love-hate relationship but as with McGee, in her mind only she was allowed to abuse them. Anyone else, she would claw to pieces for any infraction. Burley’s death had hit the team really hard.

But god, Gibbs really missed Stan. He’d driven the poor man up the wall, always calling him the wrong name on purpose. But he’d been a good man and a great Senior Field Agent. He’d balanced them out, softening Kate’s words and rubbing smooth Gibbs’ hard edges, and he’d been good at handling McGee and getting him out of his shell as well. He missed Burley being on the team. A lot. And the team needed… something. Maybe Gibbs should suggest that their entire team go through sensitivity training again. God knew that Vance would jump at the chance to fix his and Kate’s attitudes. He knew what the scuttlebutt was on the team, what other people thought about the MCRT. Normally it wouldn’t faze him, but he realized during this case that he’d been becoming complacent. He’d allowed Kate to lead the investigation based on her own insecurities and insistence on being right instead of running the investigation without making any assumptions beforehand. He’d broken his own rules. Kate had outright insulted DiNozzo – that beautiful, beautiful man – to his face, and refused to believe that Baez could possibly be innocent to the point where it had almost been a sabotage of the actual investigation.

Still, DiNozzo had kept his cool even in the face of Kate throwing the fact that he’d parked in a handicap accessible spot back in his face. If he hadn’t been in such a rush or been on the road so long, Gibbs thought that DiNozzo probably would have turned his nose up at a handicap spot. He looked like a man who could still handle himself – hell, the background they’d drummed up on him had said that he’d worked his way back to being SEAL fighting fit, even with a prosthetic leg and missing a kidney. But he would guess that it was probably the last time the man ever parked in a handicap spot in his life. And yet he hadn’t lost his calm demeanor at Kate’s unprofessional behavior and hurtful words. He just insisted that either he be allowed to bail his man out after charges were pressed, or he take the man out of NCIS custody if there were no charges against him. McCloud had been the one ready to take Kate down and only stopped because DiNozzo told him to stand down.

It was obvious that DiNozzo was not a man who just thought with his fists. He was a man who looked at the whole situation and used whatever tools he needed to to get the job done. It was probably why he’d been such a successful platoon leader, and why they’d promoted him rather than lose him after his severe injuries. His superiors recognized that they didn’t want to lose the man just because he was no longer fit for field ops. He brought other things to the table and they valued that. Hell, just for the case, DiNozzo had sicced JAG on Gibbs, and Harmon Rabb himself had turned up for this SEAL. Gibbs should have known not to underestimate the man who could, from such a long distance, get Rabb personally on a case so quickly.

Gibbs knew that he’d been shellshocked that day, upon meeting DiNozzo for the first time. He’d frozen up and pretty much just stared at the man from the get go. He knew that Kate and McGee had to be wondering what the hell was going on with him, but this was not something he was ever going to discuss with them or with anyone else. His reaction to DiNozzo upon meeting him had pretty much been the same as when he’d first met Shannon. Thunderstruck and completely turned around, his entire world becoming jumbled and confused. Back then he’d been young and impressionable, and Shannon had turned his head completely. He’d embraced Shannon and gone after her immediately, unable to see a future without her in his life. He was older and wiser now, and he didn’t know quite what to do with this reaction. He couldn’t just go after DiNozzo the way he’d pursued Shannon. There were so many complications now. He didn’t know what to do. All he knew was that he couldn’t just let it go.

Gibbs had looked further into Commander DiNozzo’s background. He’d grown up in Long Island, in an affluent family, an only child that came from old money on his mother’s side, but his mother had died when he was a young child and he’d been sent to a string of boarding schools soon after. He’d had a sealed juvenile record so Gibbs didn’t know what kind of trouble he’d gotten himself into as a kid, but he’d straightened himself out eventually and started playing basketball in his senior year at a military high school, going on to Ohio State University on a sports scholarship. He’d played both football and basketball, and belonged to a frat. The normal all-American dream. He’d been an excellent athlete, gunning to go pro, but his bid for the NFL had been crushed by a career-ending knee injury. But despite that, he’d graduated OSU with a double degree in Sports Medicine and Psychology. He’d been on the Dean’s List.

Then in a surprising and unexpected move, he’d enlisted in the Navy after he graduated, not letting his knee injury get in his way this time. Gibbs didn’t know what kind of physical therapy he’d put himself through to make the fitness cut to join the Navy. But he passed the dreaded BUD/S training with flying colors and threw himself into being a SEAL and in fifteen years, he’d worked his way up to being SEAL Team Four’s CO now. Interestingly, there seemed to be no mention of DiNozzo’s father being in his life after he’d been sent to boarding school, and when McGee dug deep, they found out that DiNozzo’s boarding school fees had been paid for by his maternal grandfather, who lived in England. They found no records that the boy himself had traveled to England for visits, or vice versa, if his grandparents had come to visit him here. It seemed to him as if DiNozzo had had a lonely childhood.

He couldn’t deny it but DiNozzo captivated him. His men hadn’t been overly formal with him when they were walking away. They seemed to be a close knit group, and even though DiNozzo was the ranking officer, they embraced him as one of their own. It said a lot to Gibbs that his enlisted were devoted to him because officers were often disdained. But not DiNozzo. He pulled his own weight, obviously. He didn’t emphasize that divide between officer and enlisted, not the way so many officers did. And his men obviously responded well to his style of leadership, atypical to that of most military leaders. And that only made DiNozzo that much more attractive to Gibbs. He wished that he could have had more interactions with the man.

Gibbs had seen DiNozzo three more times in the past two weeks. And yes, he’d counted them and he could recall everything about each encounter. He was fucking obsessed with the man now. Especially since he’d been such a lunk when they first met. Gibbs wanted to make a different impression on the man now.

The first time he saw him again, it was to question the members of Baez’s five-man team as well as other members of his platoon. They were taken to the gym where the SEALs were on PT, and DiNozzo was training with his men. Gibbs couldn’t help but surreptitiously watch as DiNozzo ran on a treadmill. He was wearing basketball shorts and his sleek prosthetic leg was exposed, but he ran full out for a long time, his stride long, smooth and graceful, just like the SEAL on the treadmill next to him. He wasn’t letting the loss of a leg slow him down for any reason and Gibbs couldn’t help but admire the dedication and the sheer willpower of the man.

It didn’t hurt that his form was excellent – not just his running form but his form was pleasing in general to Gibbs. Gibbs could hardly tear his eyes away from where the ubiquitous gray t-shirt stuck to DiNozzo’s sweaty broad shoulders and the short sleeves hugged his bulging biceps, dog tags bouncing rhythmically on his sculpted pecs and the t-shirt was tight enough to show his defined, washboard abs. DiNozzo might only have one whole leg left but what flesh and bone he had was hard muscled, toned and radiated strength. The prosthetic itself was one of those state of the art space-age looking things, all sleek and metallic yet still somehow giving the impression of cartilage and muscle, and it seemed to respond beautifully to the man. Because he _was_ beautiful, no two ways about it, with his golden skin glowing with sweat, the play of muscles under his skin as he moved was hypnotic. There was no weakness to the man as he ran, one earbud in his ear, and turning to chat to his neighbors easily as they ran, maintaining their breaths enough to carry on conversations as they worked out. These men were fit, and DiNozzo just as fit as the rest of his men, leg or no leg.

Gibbs didn’t feel too bad about staring at DiNozzo when he turned to see Kate practically gaping at the Commander. He elbowed her, making her jump and flush guiltily. Baylor, DiNozzo’s personal assistant, led them to the Commander, got into his line of sight and waited until the SEAL CO paused the treadmill.

“Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd are here,” Baylor told the man, speaking loudly to be heard above the din of the treadmills and other exercise machines that were going.

DiNozzo turned to look at them and Gibbs saw that his honey brown hair was back to regulation length again and he mourned the longer locks that the man had sported when he rode in from Arizona. Seeing them, DiNozzo pursed his lips in annoyance. Perversely, the action caused his ridiculously adorable dimples to appear and Gibbs tried to control his heartbeat.

It had been so long since he’d been attracted to anyone, and here he was, lusting after a hardass SEAL Team Commander. Even though Don’t Ask Don’t Tell had been repealed, Gibbs was Marine enough still to know that the move away from their earlier attitudes towards same sex relationships would take a while to erode. And besides, they were on a case and Gibbs wasn’t about to mess up a case because he couldn’t keep it in his pants. Besides Kate had already almost torpedoed the case _and_ cockblocked him at the same time. He needed to get himself under control. He already had three divorces under his belt, he wasn’t about to do anything stupid. At least he hoped not.

DiNozzo nimbly hopped off the treadmill, one eyebrow quirked up at the agents. “Baez has been suspended from active duty pending your investigation,” he said, a scowl darkening his expression. Gibbs could tell that he blamed the MCRT for that. DiNozzo stood at parade rest, staring at the both of them with his frank and scrutinizing gaze. Gibbs tried not to let his eyes drift down to look at DiNozzo’s prosthetic leg, even though he was fascinated by it.

“We have a list of his team mates to interview,” Kate said when the silence lasted a beat longer than was comfortable, Gibbs and DiNozzo just staring at each other. “Just background questions to establish Baez’s character.”

DiNozzo took the list, giving him and Kate a suspicious look. He quickly ran his eyes down the piece of paper, then he looked around the room. “All but two of the people on your list are in this room, but I assume you’ll want privacy for these _interviews_?” he made the last word sound like an insult.

“That would be appreciated, Commander,” Gibbs replied politely.

“What order would you like them to appear?” DiNozzo asked.

Gibbs took the list back, pulled his pen out of his pocket, hastily scribbled some numbers next to the names to indicate order and handed it back. DiNozzo nodded and gave the list to Baylor.

“I’m scheduled to be in here for another hour and then I have a couple of meetings on the base?” DiNozzo gave Baylor a questioning look.

“You’re scheduled to be at Block B at 1400 and across the base at Block F at 1500, sir,” Baylor agreed.

“Use my office for the interviews then,” he told them.

“Thank you, sir,” Baylor said. “I’ll get them situated and then pull the men in.”

“Thanks, Baylor,” DiNozzo tendered his assistant a grin and rolled his eyes when the man saluted him. He saluted back, shaking his head.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Commander,” Kate told him. Maybe she was trying to make amends, Gibbs thought.

“Did you need me for anything else?” DiNozzo asked, ignoring the possible olive branch.

Both NCIS agents shook their heads.

DiNozzo gave them a curt goodbye and climbed back up on the treadmill. He was running full speed again before Gibbs and Kate exited the gym area. Baylor left them to get situated in DiNozzo’s office, which was still fairly empty except for the regulation furniture and a computer had been set up. The man was obviously just assuming command and hadn’t moved in fully yet. But Kate began complaining about DiNozzo’s attitude. Gibbs glared her into silence. Hadn’t she learned her lesson yet? Hadn’t he chewed her out enough already? DiNozzo was a CO and his priority was his man. Hell, Gibbs’ old CO would have been a lot less civil and cooperative than DiNozzo was. Kate needed to stop inserting her personal opinions about the man into this case. Especially since she didn’t actually know him and didn’t have any personal knowledge of this man to have this strong of an opinion about him. But she shut up at his look, and they sat in blessed silence until Baylor brought in the first person they wanted to interview.

After conducting the interviews, Gibbs and Kate left Little Creek without catching sight of DiNozzo again, which disappointed Gibbs quite a bit. He wouldn’t have minded seeing the Commander in uniform, truth be told. And he would go to his grave keeping that little tidbit to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow, the second part of Gibbs' POV.
> 
> Side note: I stayed at a hotel for several weeks once, sharing an elevator and conversing with a beautiful woman who had two prosthetic legs. She was an active runner, and she often said hi to me as she was headed to work out. I have no doubt that she would leave me in the dust if we were to race. I am not a runner, not by any means, and this woman most definitely was.
> 
> Here is an image of what I imagine [Tony's prosthetic leg looks like](https://grabcad.com/library/prosthetic-leg-2). I toyed with the idea that he would have one that was [specific for running like these here](https://static.businessinsider.com/image/503bb5c3ecad04c11b000004/image.jpg?_ga=2.200842734.1135295308.1532725880-1336556564.1532725870) but that might be something Tony looks into later. He hasn't been an amputee that long. Also, since he is a SEAL, he'll want a completely waterproof prosthetic for swimming and they also have some very cool options [like this one](https://www.ottobockus.com/prosthetics/lower-limb-prosthetics/solution-overview/x3-prosthetic-leg/).


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter in Gibbs' POV. :D
> 
> I'm overwhelmed by your responses to this story, and to the situation with Tony's leg. You guys are awesome! I will reply to your comments after I edit and post this chapter ;)

**Part Two: Gibbs (continued)**

Gibbs continued to sand his boat, lost in thought, mind on the memory of Commander DiNozzo running on the treadmill and finding that the prosthetic leg somehow added to his appeal rather than detracted from it. It was a blatant sign of the man’s strength and durability. It pulled at him, like Shannon’s red hair had, like a beacon of some sort.

He sighed. He moved on to the second time he encountered DiNozzo in the past two weeks. It had been completely unexpected and he hadn’t had time to mentally prepare himself for it. He’d wandered down to Abby’s lab to check in with her – she was working on the Margot and Jennifer Baez murders – and for once her music was turned down low. Gibbs loitered in the hallway, ears perked up to see if he could determine what was going on with Abby before he entered the lab. She only ever turned her music down when she had company. He liked to know who was in there before he walked in and if it was someone he would rather not interact with, he could always come back later.

“And then you run it through Major Mass Spec here, and voila! We’ll have some results to analyze in two to four hours,” he heard Abby say. “My baby never lies!”

“Fascinating,” a male voice commented.

“This stuff really does fascinate me,” Abby told him.

“I toyed with the idea of becoming a firefighter once, or even a cop,” the man continued.

“You would’ve been good at either, I would guess, Tony.”

There was a deep throated chuckle that made a shiver go down Gibbs’ spine. It was so very sexy. He wondered who it was in there with Abby. The voice was familiar but he couldn’t quite place it. “Guess we’ll never know,” the man said easily.

“I’m pretty sure nobody in the Navy complained when you enlisted, Tony.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised at that. I had a shit ton of issues,” the man replied blithely. “Boot camp, and BUD/S training definitely knocked me down a peg or three.”

“Oh, speaking of pegs, you could actually dress up as a pirate and walk around with a peg leg this Halloween when you come to my party!” Gibbs could hear Abby jumping up and down in what was no doubt her platform heeled combat boots. “I throw the most amazing Halloween costume parties!”

“I’m sure you do, Abs,” the tone was indulgent. “But maybe I want to be something a little more sophisticated than a pirate.”

“More sophisticated? Even though you could be an authentic peg leg pirate?? I could even hook you up with a tame parrot! Come _on!_ ”

More of that sexy deep throated laugh.

“Well, if you want sophisticated, I guess you could pull off a James Bond,” Abby conceded. “You’d look amazing in a tux.”

“Which Bond?”

“Sean Connery, of course!”

“I knew there was a reason we were friends,” the man – Tony – laughed again. “He’s my favorite Bond. ‘Shaken, not stirred’.” His Connery impression was actually not half bad.

A throat clearing in the hallway right by him made Gibbs jump. It was DiNozzo’s assistant, Baylor. Gibbs frowned at him, wondering what he was doing there.

“I’ve come to pick up the Commander,” Baylor volunteered, jerking his head towards Abby’s lab.

“DiNozzo’s here?” Gibbs frowned. “Why, exactly?”

“Miss Sciuto had some questions for him.”

“Abby did?”

Baylor shrugged. He entered the lab and Gibbs trailed in after him.

“Petty Officer Baylor!” Abby greeted him with an enthusiastic hug, and then she spotted Gibbs and her smile widened. “Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!” She flung herself into Gibbs’ arms.

“Hey, Abs. What’s going on here?” Gibbs hugged her, handed her a caf-pow, and dropped a kiss on her cheek.

“Oh, I called Tony to ask him about some standard SEAL maneuvers and weapons of choice, and he was nice enough to come and talk to me about it in person and even give me a demo. Shit, Gibbs, I think Tony would be able to give you a run for your money if you guys were to spar,” Abby’s eyes were bright with glee, as if she was already imagining this.

Tony – Commander DiNozzo – snorted out a laugh. Today he was dressed in desert camo NWUs, the uniform hanging on his lean frame like a comfortable, old friend. “Abby then gave me a tour of her lab, and it is fascinating,” he sounded quite sincere.

“I’ll totally blow up that molecule of Yersinia pestis for you to make a poster for your office,” Abby promised him.

“It’ll freak people out,” DiNozzo gave her a happy grin and goddamnit, there were those dimples of his again. “It’ll be cool.”

“Yersinia pestis?” Baylor asked.

“The bacteria that causes the plague,” Abby nodded seriously.

“The plague? Which plague?”

“The plague! The black plague that decimated the population of Europe and Asia in the fourteenth century, Baylor. The Black Death. _The_ plague,” DiNozzo shook his head. “NCIS had a bio-terror attack a few years ago involving Yersinia pestis, Abby said.”

“Although to be specific, the one we were sent was a genetically engineered strain of the pneumonic plague and not the bubonic plague,” Abby continued.

Gibbs winced. That had not been a good time. A sick, crazy woman had sent a letter infected with a particularly hardy, antibiotic resistant, genetically engineered strain of Yersinia pestis. Security staff had scanned the envelope per protocol and it didn’t throw up any red flags, but since it wasn’t addressed to any agent in particular, it had been sent to the designated mailroom staff who opened mail that was improperly addressed and routed them appropriately, according to its content. Unfortunately, when the white powder spilled out, even though hazmat containment procedures were strictly followed, both of the people in the mailroom at the time breathed it in and contracted the pneumonic plague, and despite twenty first century medicine they had both died from it. It had been quite the clusterfuck and Gibbs and his team were the ones to solve the crime, as unsatisfying as it had been to find that the perpetrator was psychotic and terminally ill. Gibbs, for one, was filled with dread every time he saw a lipstick imprint of a kiss – a SWAK, as Abby had said – on anything, since it had been on the Y pestis envelope.

“You’re going to put up a poster of the plague in your office?” Gibbs asked DiNozzo.

“Just the bacteria magnified a gazillion times, yes,” DiNozzo said cheerfully.

“I bet you would’ve survived the pneumonic plague if you’d gotten it, Tony. You’re way too tough of a motherfucker to go out that way,” Abby gave him a speculative look.

DiNozzo laughed. “I don’t know. I think it would’ve been a career ender, even if lived through it. Would’ve fucked up my lungs. A SEAL’s got to do a bunch of swimming and underwater crap, you know.”

Gibbs wondered idly how DiNozzo managed in the water now. Did he have to swim without the prosthesis? Could he or anyone else swim with prosthetics? He really didn’t know much about it. And now he wished he did.

Abby made a noise of agreement and nodded thoughtfully. “Although you’d still have been pretty. The pneumonic plague scars you on the inside and not the outside!”

“You’re a glass half full kind of chick, Abs,” Tony agreed.

“It’s why death metal appeals to me,” Abby quipped.

Baylor shook his head and looked at his watch. “Time to go, sir,” he said.

DiNozzo kissed Abby on the cheek and threw Gibbs a jaunty wave as he and his assistant headed out.

“Don’t forget Friday night, Tony!” Abby called out.

“Lucius won’t let me forget, don’t worry,” Tony called back before disappearing.

Gibbs waited until he was sure that DiNozzo and Baylor were gone and the elevator doors had closed on them. “What the fuck is going on?” he rounded angrily on Abby.

“What?” Abby looked surprised and aggrieved.

“DiNozzo. What the fuck was he doing here? Are you telling him stuff about the case? Stuff he shouldn’t have access to?”

“What the hell, Gibbs?” Abby glared right back at him. “You _know_ me better than that! I researched some SEAL-related maneuvers that I wanted to get secondary corroboration on, so I called Petty Officer Baylor to see if he could independently answer some questions which he did, but he also referred me to Tony so I called Tony – _Commander DiNozzo_ – and he gave me some of his time. He was actually in DC when I called so we met for coffee and I grilled him. And then I invited him back here to tour my lab, where I did not, in fact, tell him _anything_ about _any_ of our active cases, including the one involving Master Chief Baez. Give me _some_ credit, Gibbs! I’ve only been a Forensics Analyst and protecting and defending my evidence for how long? I’m not about to let anyone seduce me into messing up a case! So, is there anything else you’d like to question me about? Any other cases that I might have jeopardized by having a trained SEAL with the kind of security clearance I don’t even have in here?”

Gibbs sighed. OK. Maybe he’d overreacted a little. It was going to take a ton of caf-pow to appease Abby now that he’d hurt her feelings by questioning her work ethic. He hoped he wasn’t going to have to actually apologize to her. He hated apologies and how stupid and meaningless they often were. He even had a rule against them. Instead, he hugged Abby and kissed her, trying to convey his apologies tacitly.

He’d just been so thrown off guard to see the SEAL CO – the object of his obsession – in Abby’s lab, looking right at home hanging out with Abby. He didn’t want to know why Commander DiNozzo and his favorite living person were hanging out together, and he really didn’t like how comfortable and easy the man had been around Abby when he seemed to always be wary around Gibbs. Oh god. He was jealous of Abby now, wasn’t he? He needed to nip this in the bud right quick and gave Abby another hug.

Abby blew out a breath and rolled her eyes and nodded begrudgingly.

“What’s going on with DiNozzo and you on Friday night?” Gibbs asked, trying to sound casual, trying not to think about the fact that he was going to hate himself _and_ Abby _and_ DiNozzo if Abby and the Commander started hooking up.

Abby brightened up at the question, which made Gibbs’ heart sink even more. He braced himself for it. Abby and the most attractive and intriguing Commander DiNozzo were going on a date. He was out of the running because first, Abby had beat him to it, and second, he had never been in the running in the first place. He hadn’t done anything to indicate his interest in DiNozzo. Goddamnit.

“He’s going to come bowling with the nuns with me!” she declared.

Gibbs gave her a surprised look. Bowling with the nuns didn’t seem like the kind of thing that someone like Commander DiNozzo would do for a first date. Bowling with nuns wasn’t the kind of thing that _anyone_ would do on any kind of date, if you asked Gibbs. Or was the man even kinkier than Gibbs could imagine?

He tried not to imagine the Commander’s skin, bared and glistening with sweat, in a cramped closet not far from where the nuns were bowling. Shit. What the hell was _wrong_ with him?

“Not _that_ kind of a night out, Bossman!” Abby rolled her eyes. “The day I invite someone bowling with the nuns with the intent of getting into their pants, that’s when you know I should just take my vows and go be a nun, and give up sex altogether. No! That is _not_ cool or sexy.”

“I don’t know,” Gibbs muttered. In his opinion, being with Commander DiNozzo could make anyplace with anyone sexy.

“It’s not a date,” Abby told him sternly. “For one, I would never start dating someone with an interest to an active case until after the case was closed and the Baez murders, still an open case. And for another, Tony and I just clicked in a different way. It’s like I somehow knew him even though we’ve only just met! He already feels like a brother to me. So yeah, dating him, even though the man is one of the fucking yummiest men I’ve seen in a while and a SEAL to boot, that’s kind of squicky now.” Abby sighed noisily. “What a crying shame. It would’ve been so awesome to tap that ass,” Abby lamented. “When he hugged me, I had to cop a bit of a feel, you know? I mean, even though I don’t want to fuck him, he’s still smokin’ you know? And I’m still alive. So yeah, I squeezed him a little, and it’s like his muscles have muscles, Bossman.” She sighed again. “I suppose I could look at one of his men for some distractions. They do all have the muscly bods. That McCloud, for instance, is also pretty hot. But, after the case is closed, of course.”

Gibbs couldn’t believe the relief he felt at Abby’s statement. Abby wasn’t going to date the Commander. Gibbs could put away the jealousy now. Well, she did manage to grope DiNozzo, and the only physical contact Gibbs had had with the Commander had been the one handshake from that evening when he had been so discombobulated that he barely even remembered the feel of his firm grip, or the warmth of his fingers, so she was still one up on him there. But still. No dating. Thank fuck. He just grunted a response so he wouldn’t have to say anything and give any of his inner emotional upheaval away.

“Why is he bowling with you and the nuns?” Gibbs asked, wondering how on earth Abby had talked the SEAL into that particular activity.

“Well, this guy, Lucius is one of the SEALs in Tony’s team and he was raised by the nuns in their orphanage,” Abby explained. “I met Lucius a couple of years ago when he was first stationed at Little Creek. I didn’t know he was one of Tony’s, because you know, I didn’t even know Tony existed back then. Anyway, Lucius comes by and bowls with the nuns and acts as a mentor to the kids at the orphanage on a regular basis. When he’s not somewhere out in the world with his platoon, that is. When Tony was here, I mentioned bowling and the nuns came up, and then we realized that we both knew Lucius and Tony knew that Lucius really thought the world of the nuns and all of that good stuff, so I called Lucius and we both roped Tony into coming to bowl with us on Friday night. Maybe they’ll bring a bunch of the other guys, too, which would be so cool.” How on earth Abby didn’t asphyxiate herself with her long winded sentences, Gibbs would never know, but she always managed to pull it off.

Gibbs nodded. It all made sense.

“It’ll be good for Tony to come, I think,” Abby said thoughtfully. “One of the kids in the orphanage was born with only one leg, and he’s getting to that age where the other kids are making fun of him. I think it’ll be good for all the kids to see Tony out there, a badass motherfucker with a prosthetic leg, you know? I think it’ll be good for all the kids to see that having a disability doesn’t have to mean anything or make it OK for them to think any less of them. That the external shit doesn’t reflect the internal strength of a person.”

And now Gibbs’ heart was going to melt because of course, Commander DiNozzo was nice enough to want to go to an orphanage and be an inspiration to a poor little one-legged orphan. What was next? Fuck, the Commander probably volunteered at a no-kill shelter and saved starving and abused puppies and kittens in his free time.

He sighed inwardly. He was in so much trouble now.

“Maybe you can come bowl with us on Friday?” Abby looked hopefully at Gibbs.

“Maybe next time,” Gibbs gave her another hug, even though he knew his heart was pounding and his palms were sweaty at the thought of bowling with DiNozzo. Even though the nuns would be present. And maybe even some orphans.

Don’t think of pushing DiNozzo into a closet, crowding him, lips locked, and kicking the door closed behind him at the bowling alley, Gibbs groaned silently. Shit. Maybe _Gibbs_ was the kinky one now thinking naughty thoughts when nuns were involved. This was definitely not something he needed to expose himself to any further. It was time for him to just forget about DiNozzo.

And then, thankfully, they changed the subject and finally started discussing the case, which was what Gibbs had originally gone to the lab for. Even though now all Gibbs could think about was Commander DiNozzo in his NWUs. He wondered what DiNozzo would look like fully kitted out with all his gear and any camouflaging body paint. Fuck, Gibbs really needed to get his head out of the gutter and stop thinking about Commander DiNozzo and body paint because he could definitely get into that shit. But not while he was supposed to be talking to Abby about evidence and cases, and certainly nowhere near any closets, nuns or orphans or puppies or kittens.

Gibbs had to suppress a sigh and force himself to focus on the task at hand. After all, they still had a double murder to solve, the tantalizing Commander DiNozzo notwithstanding.

The third and final time Gibbs saw Commander DiNozzo was just earlier that afternoon when they went to Little Creek to formally notify Master Chief Baez that he was no longer a suspect after Claire Darcy and her associates had been arrested and charged. Baylor had knocked on DiNozzo’s door when they turned up without an appointment, barging right in after a quick rap.

DiNozzo was behind his desk, staring at a computer screen. He looked up, a slight frown creasing his brow.

“Sir, Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd are here to speak to Master Chief Baez,” Baylor announced.

DiNozzo gave them a thoughtful look. “Should I get Rabb here?” he asked.

Gibbs shook his head. “This won’t take long. We’ve arrested and charged someone else. But we’d like to inform Baez formally.”

DiNozzo nodded and flicked his eyes at Baylor.

“I’ll get him over here ASAP, sir. He’s with his team,” Baylor offered, understanding his silent request.

“Thank you,” Tony told him.

Baylor left, leaving Gibbs and Kate standing in DiNozzo’s office. The Commander nodded at the chairs across from his desk.

“Please take a seat,” he offered politely. “I’m in the middle of something so if you’ll let me just finish this one second, then I’ll get out of your hair…”

Gibbs grunted a soft thank you as he and his Senior Field Agent sat down. DiNozzo was typing and staring intently at his screen, and continued to work quietly for the next few minutes. Gibbs could tell that Kate was staring at the man, probably still trying to fit him into whatever her preconceived notions were and not caring to know the real man underneath the uniform. And before his mind could go wandering down the path of what Commander DiNozzo might look like underneath his uniform, Gibbs quickly distracted himself. He refused to allow himself the luxury of staring at the man. Instead, he took in the Commander’s office, taking in the furniture and other things, wanting to see what DiNozzo surrounded himself with.

The Commander had done some settling in since the previous week when he and Kate used his office to question Baez’s platoon. The bookshelves were now filled, not just with the requisite military procedures and manuals but also with many thick books. Gibbs noted that there were books on history, battle analysis, textbooks of tactics and strategies of combat and warfare, demolitions, underwater combat and espionage, and even books about biological and cyber warfare, and meaty biographies. All of his books looked well read, as if DiNozzo had thumbed through them more than once. Gibbs wondered if he was the kind of person to highlight and underline, and if he’d made notes in the margins. He seemed like he might be that kind of person. Gibbs could see that he was jotting down notes in an untidy scrawl on a notepad next to him as he continued to work at his computer.

Unlike other CO’s offices that Gibbs had been in, there were very few photographs displayed. There were none of the usual medal acceptance ceremonies or pictures with presidents, past and present, or other politicians or military superiors that tended to grace the offices of military commanding officers. Instead, the photos he did have out were ones with his platoon and his team. DiNozzo didn’t seem to be one to care about currying favor with any politicians. Maybe he was new to his office and hadn’t had a chance to build those relationships yet, but somehow Gibbs had a gut feeling that DiNozzo just didn’t give a shit about stuff like that. Gibbs had seen the long list of medals that had been awarded the Commander and yet he could see none of the pictures that would surely have been taken at those ceremonies displayed here. But then, there were no personal photographs either. Nothing with anyone who could be a parent, or any other family member. DiNozzo had pictures of his team on his wall, and his desk, as if they were the only family that mattered to him. Not that Gibbs could say anything about that, he had no pictures up at all in his cube and he’d hidden all the pictures of his girls at home so that they wouldn’t be out there, staring at him, making him miss them and making him feel the guilt, pain and sorrow of their loss all over again.

There were a couple reproductions of famous paintings to brighten his wall. It also made Gibbs grin to see a framed eleven by fourteen of what looked like portions of colorful furry cylinders. It was quite striking and centrally placed on the wall such that both he and Kate could clearly see it from where they were sitting.

“What _is_ that?” Kate asked, breaking the silence.

“Mm… What?” DiNozzo looked up from his screen. His tone was absent minded, as if he’d forgotten they were sitting there.

“That thing you have up there? Looks kind of like, um, a hugely blown up moldy tic tac?” Kate continued.

DiNozzo broke into a snicker that Gibbs could only describe as adorable. “That?” he pointed behind him to the wall.

Kate nodded.

DiNozzo gave her a wicked grin. “It was a gift. I do like how you described it, though.”

“But what is it?”

“The plague,” Tony answered, green eyes wide and innocent. “That little thing was once part of a worldwide pandemic.”

Kate frowned. “Why would you put that up on your wall?”

“A reminder that life is cruel and unexpected, and that danger can come in all sizes. Even the tiniest things can cause massive damage and countless deaths,” DiNozzo was suddenly serious.

Kate gave him a suspicious look but shut her mouth then. DiNozzo began typing furiously again and pulled away about a minute later when there was a soft knock on his door. Baez entered, saluting DiNozzo, who automatically responded.

“I’ll vacate…” DiNozzo moved to stand.

“If you wouldn’t mind staying, sir?” Baez looked at him.

DiNozzo gave Gibbs a questioning look.

“It’s fine,” Gibbs said.

DiNozzo sat back down and pointed to a chair in the corner in front of a small, comfortable looking armchair gesturing at Baez to carry it over. Gibbs couldn’t help but wonder if the chair was placed by the armchair for DiNozzo to put his leg up when he sat in the armchair. Maybe it helped with his leg to do that. Without a word, Baez obeyed, settled down on the chair and looked expectantly at the NCIS agents.

Gibbs and Kate then proceeded to tell Baez that he had been cleared of any suspicion and that Margot’s sister had been arrested, along with her accomplices. They didn’t give Baez all the details, but assured him that they had incontrovertible evidence that they had caught the real perps. Baez looked stricken that his son’s biological aunt had been responsible for such a brutal act. When Gibbs and Kate were done, DiNozzo had come around his desk and stood with a hand squeezing Baez’s shoulder supportively, Baez gripping his wrist tightly.

Gibbs put a hand on Baez’s other shoulder. He knew the pain of losing a spouse to such violence. Baez nodded his thanks, still holding his CO’s wrist as if it were a lifeline.

Gibbs and Kate left soon after and all the way back to DC, all Kate could talk about was what a sexist pig DiNozzo was. Gibbs wasn’t entirely sure how that day’s interaction with Commander DiNozzo made him sexist, other than the fact that the man didn’t flirt with Kate, although he didn’t doubt that if he _had_ flirted with Kate, he would have been a sexist pig because of it. The poor man just couldn’t seem to win with her. Gibbs just growled at her to shut up and keep her opinions to herself, and they drove the rest of the way in blissful silence.

And now that the case was over and Gibbs was sitting by himself in the quiet solitude of his basement, still sanding away, all he could think of was Commander DiNozzo. That day he had been clad in his service khakis, ribbons on his left breast, and his rank on his collar. Gibbs wondered what he’d look like with his cover on. Or maybe without the cover, or the khakis, but maybe just with body paint. God, what the hell was it with Gibbs and wanting to cover DiNozzo with body paint? Did he have a thing for skin art? Which led Gibbs to wonder if DiNozzo had a tattoo somewhere on his body – many military men did. Gibbs had seen him in his workout clothes and nary a tattoo was visible then. Could he have one on the small of his back? Or on his shoulder blade? Or his ass? Gibbs wanted to know if the man had marred his perfect, golden skin with any kind of permanent ink. It would be both a shame as well as titillating. He couldn’t decide which.

Gibbs groaned aloud. He needed to go out and get laid. Obviously. He needed to get his mind off the intriguing Commander DiNozzo, with his emerald green eyes, and those infernal dimples, and the miles of tanned skin. He pictured DiNozzo running at full speed on the treadmill, despite the fact that one of his legs was now made of metal, and he wondered how the physical therapy for that might have gone for the younger man. Gibbs himself had had to undergo physical therapy to get through several injuries himself and it had never been fun, and he’d never had to recover from something as drastic as the loss of a limb. But DiNozzo’s skin had glowed with health and perspiration that day. He wondered what that golden skin would taste like, because the man always smelled so good. He smelled clean, a natural scent that wasn’t overpowered by strong smelling cologne or aftershave. He wondered what sounds DiNozzo would make if he were to lick his way down his neck, down his chest and his belly, always aiming down towards his happy trail…

Gibbs tore himself away from that train of thought.

Seriously. He needed to get a grip. Gibbs sighed and threw the sander off to the side. Maybe it was more of a bourbon night than a boat night. Maybe if he drank enough bourbon, then he’d be able to get some sleep without needing to jerk off to thoughts of Commander DiNozzo. He cringed inwardly at the thought that he’d actually jerked off to fantasies of Commander DiNozzo more times than he wanted to admit in the past couple of weeks. And even though these were fantasies and it only involved his own right hand, the masturbation had resulted in orgasms that were more satisfying than sex with his ex-wives had been. Which meant that he was way too attached to the Commander for absolutely no reason now. He couldn’t stop himself from thinking of one of the favorite fantasies he had jerked off to. It was of him pushing DiNozzo into a supply closet – at the bowling alley, at the Navy Yard, at Little Creek, wherever really, that part wasn’t important – pulling out their dicks, spitting on his hand, and stroking them both in tandem, imagining DiNozzo’s soft gasps and moans as they rutted against each other until they both came. That little fantasy was good for a quick and dirty orgasm for Gibbs. And had certainly helped him sleep better at night.

His dick twitched at the fantasy and he groaned, forcing himself to resist pushing his hand into his pants. He needed to wean himself off of Commander DiNozzo, especially since they had closed the case and he wouldn’t have any excuses to see the man anymore. That morning he had decided not to say anything to DiNozzo about his feelings. The timing wasn’t right, and besides, DiNozzo was probably straight as an arrow and wouldn’t have any interest in Gibbs. He desperately wished that Shannon were still alive, so that she could advise him on what to do. She’d been his best friend and had always been the person to help him relate to other people anyway. But of course, she was gone and all he had to depend on now was himself. So, he’d decided that, after two weeks of obsessing about the man, he needed to let it go. He couldn’t pursue DiNozzo. He couldn’t risk hurting himself or DiNozzo because he’s always been bad at relationships and he didn’t need to start something that would end up killing him. This man had affected him the way Shannon had, and when he lost her, he’d lost himself for so many years, he wasn’t even sure that he’d found all the pieces again all these years later. And maybe he was chickening out, not taking this chance, but it was for the best. DiNozzo was a SEAL and Gibbs was NCIS. Gibbs was too old to be blinded by lust or love now, and there was no way he could have some meaningless physical relationship with DiNozzo. So he was going to just let the whole thing go and stuff his feelings back into a box. But of course, his dick kept hardening in his pants, and he buried his face in his hands, refusing to jerk off to thoughts of the man. Again.

Yup. He definitely needed to stop doing that if he wasn’t going to pursue the man. So. Time to hit the bourbon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs didn't do anything! I know! Please don't kill me! :D
> 
> Tomorrow, the final chapter and Tony's POV.
> 
> I updated the rating to Mature because Gibbs had a bit of a fantasy about Tony at the end of this chapter (oops!).
> 
> I relied on [this wiki page for information on the uniforms used in the US Navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Navy) in order to dress Tony in this chapter. I have no personal knowledge about this so bear in mind I'm making it all up and choosing stuff for Tony to wear that hopefully isn't completely egregious. I'm going by what floats the muse's boat ;)  
> * NWUs - Naval Working Uniform, and as a SEAL Tony would have worn the Type II (according to the wiki)  
> * Service Khakis are also described in this wiki page
> 
> This is what [yersinia pestis](https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/images/6/6c/3D_Yersinia_pestis_model.jpeg) looks like and something like this is what Abby blew up to hang up in Tony's office.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The final chapter! Here's Tony's POV. I hope you like it!
> 
> You guys are awesome *hugs* Thank you for all of your lovely comments!

**Part Three: Tony**

Tony, McCloud, Baez and practically Baez’s entire platoon were sitting in the courtroom when Margot and Jennifer Baez’s murderers were sentenced. It was a joint effort between JAG and the District Attorney so Harmon Rabb and the DA were both sitting at the prosecutor’s table. Tony was sitting in the front row with Baez, McCloud, and a couple others. Almost all of those sitting on their side were members of their platoon, all in their dress whites.

Baez had chosen not to have Spencer be present for sentencing since one of the people responsible for the death of his mother was his estranged aunt, Margot’s sister. He didn’t think that the ten year old should be there to watch a family member being jailed. It wasn’t a matter of revenge, but justice, and he didn’t want to put this kind of responsibility, of being a witness to this, when he was still so young. So Spencer was in the car with Baylor, no doubt learning more creative words that would get Baez in trouble with Spencer’s teachers if he used them at school.

The jury handed down the most severe sentence to Claire and her accomplices, and as one, Tony and his SEALs intoned “Hooyah,” in approval.

Tony pulled Baez into a backslapping hug and held him while the bigger man buried his face into Tony’s chest and shuddered. It was finally over. They could all breathe again. Although Baez was still left trying to pick up the pieces with his orphaned son.

When Baez released him, Tony gave him a final clap on the back and then gave Harm a hug and shook hands with the DA while the rest of the platoon took their turn hugging Baez. Finally they were all starting to file out of the courtroom. The members of the MCRT were also in attendance, and all the SEALs took the time to shake their hands as they were leaving.

Tony watched his men with pride. These were his brothers, his family, and after Margot and Jen had been killed, they had banded together even more tightly, surrounding Baez and Spencer with support and love. And they were still doing it, which made Tony’s heart swell with pride. Times like this, it made his decision to take the promotion and to not leave his men a good one. Not to say that he didn’t still have doubts or didn’t have those sleepless nights wondering if he was in the right place, questioning the fact that he didn’t necessarily choose this path. But he was still with his family. They were the only people who’d ever loved and accepted him for who he was, so at least he could still be with them and look out for them in a different way, now that he wasn’t able to be on the ground with them anymore.

“We should go celebrate,” McCloud had an arm around Baez’s shoulder.

Tony raised an eyebrow, asking Baez if that was what he wanted. The big man nodded his answer.

“Somewhere Spencer can come, too, sure,” Baez told McCloud.

“I’ll buy,” Tony volunteered.

“Hooyah!” McCloud yelled. “Commander’s buying dinner!”

There came a chorus of ‘hooyahs’ and other cheers. Tony rolled his eyes at his men, still so spirited even though they were all exhausted. Half of them had, in the wee hours of the morning, returned from a ten-day classified op and after the debriefing, had suited up so they could all be together to support Baez. Tony himself had barely had any sleep during the past ten days, busy with coordinating and working out the tactical strategy along with the teams on the ground, working with the analysts and reviewing the intel closely. He didn’t want any of his men caught in the kind of situation that had killed half his team in his own last field op. He might not be able to be on the ground with his men anymore, but he could damn well make sure that he was personally and intricately familiar with the intel and the analysts’ conclusions. He had been in their ears on the comm the whole time, supporting his team as much as he could from afar. He might be stuck with a gimpy leg but his brain was still as sharp as ever.

“You guys should come,” McCloud told Gibbs, Kate and the little chubby guy, magnanimous now that Margot’s murderers had been sentenced. For the life of him, Tony couldn’t remember the little chubby guy’s name. He always seemed so quiet. He had a bit of a stutter so he was probably used to people talking over him. Tony tried to recall his name. Mc-something sounded about right.

“Especially if Tony’s buying. Besides you guys know this area and would be the ones telling us where we should go. Remember, we have a ten year old with us…” Mac was still talking to the NCIS agents.

Kate and McSomethingorOther exchanged a glance before they turned to Gibbs. The marine’s sharp blue gaze turned to Tony for a moment before he shrugged and nodded, and his two junior agents whooped.

“Call Abby and invite her too,” Tony told McCloud. “Her evidence exonerated Baez fully and absolutely pointed the finger to these guys. She deserves a nice dinner, no?”

McCloud nodded, grinning enthusiastically. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Mac’s interest in the Goth forensic scientist was painfully obvious and really, she was beautiful and smart and funny. She and McCloud seemed to get along well. Mac should just get over himself and ask her out already.

The MCRT chose an establishment not too far from the courthouse. Luckily it was quite early for dinner, so the restaurant was still mostly empty as the platoon, Spencer and the MCRT descended upon it. Tony spoke to the maître d to ensure that everyone’s food and drink was placed on his tab that night, leaving a credit card and a very generous tip with the man. It was only money and it wasn’t like he had anyone else to spend his money on. His men deserved this treat. He watched as they worked together to rearrange their tables and chairs such that they could all still socialize.

Agent Todd watched the action with interest. Tony’s SEALs had efficiently moved things around so that tables seating six to eight people were placed in a rough circle, leaving room for wait staff to move around them. They had taken over half the restaurant.

“What the hell is this?” she asked Baylor.

“It’s called a ‘campfire’,” Baylor told her.

“What kind of dumbass arrangement is this?” Todd shook her head.

Baylor glared at her. “It’s the Commander’s favorite way to keep us together so we can all see each other and talk to each other, exchange ideas and strategize.”

“Can’t tell you how many lives our campfires have saved,” another SEAL told Todd.

“It’s still stupid,” Agent Todd mumbled, although McJuniorAgent elbowed her to shut her up.

Abby arrived at that moment, and threw herself into Tony’s arms, clinging to him like a limpet. She kissed his cheek and let him go to greet his men just as enthusiastically. Tony rolled his eyes when McCloud tried to give him a glare. Surprisingly, Gibbs was giving him the death glare too. Probably worrying about Abby’s virtue. Idiots, the both of them. Abby was like a sister to him. He wasn’t interested in fucking the woman, no matter how attractive she was. He’d gotten to know her pretty well over the months awaiting Claire Darcy’s trial and he knew how openly affectionate she was with everyone. You’d think that Gibbs, at least, would be aware of her penchant for bestowing hugs and kisses.

Unfortunately for him, Tony found himself seated at a table with Gibbs, Abby, Agent Todd, McCloud and the chubby young agent. McGee, he finally found out the kid’s name. He wasn’t entirely sure why he’d been sent to sit at the table with the entire MCRT and pouted as he looked at Baez who was sitting with Spencer and his team. It was probably the privilege of rank that he had to entertain the visitors instead of making trouble with his team.

God, he missed that closeness. He missed his team maybe even more than he missed his leg and felt the pain of their absence just as keenly as he felt the phantom pains in his leg. They’d functioned as a unit for so long that it felt weird for him to no longer be so interconnected with them.

Their closeness was just a result of how the SEALs operated. They were assigned to a main SEAL team, and SEAL Team Four had several Troops, each of which divided into several more platoons and each platoon consisted of even more four- or five-man teams. Tony had been part of the same five-man team for years, members changing very rarely and had lived and breathed the team for all that time. They had been very efficient and had had one of the best records amongst all of the smaller teams in the SEALs. Even after he’d made platoon leader and expanded his closeness to include the whole platoon, he’d still been intrinsically connected to his five-man team.

Baez had been his chief practically his entire career, becoming his platoon chief when he took over as platoon leader. They didn’t go through BUD/S together, but Tony joined the team in Baez’s first year. He and Baez had grown up together in the SEALs, saved each other’s asses more times than they could ever count, and were brothers in all but blood. He’d been Baez’s best man when he married Margot, and had then been close to the both of them as a couple. He knew just about everything about Baez, and Baez knew everything about him, from his troubled childhood to his fluid sexuality. Baez had only ever been supportive of him. But it went both ways. Tony had been the one supporting Baez through his divorce, even though the split had been amicable. Margot finally came to terms with her sexuality and that was that. But in spite of the breakup of their marriage, she and Baez remained the best of friends, each other’s platonic soulmates, with a kind of closeness that would have been solid even without Spencer to tie them to each other. Baez had been supportive of Margot, even when she started dating again and being there for her at her second wedding when she had to exclude her own biological family for their bigoted beliefs.

Losing Margot had been really difficult for them all. They were SEALs. They expected violence and death to come among the team while on an op, out in the field. They didn’t expect this kind of thing to be dealt to those left at home. It was the kind of upheaval that truly threw the team, and caused them to reevaluate their lives and strengthen the security of their loved ones and their homes. It was a relief that Margot and Jen’s murderers were caught and incarcerated. That certainly helped to ease everyone’s minds. But it would take a long time before Baez was OK again, and the whole team would be behind him all the way.

Tony could see the relief on everyone’s faces that day, in the restaurant. They needed this. It was probably time to throw some kind of cookout to get the entire team and their families together. Tony used to do that for his platoon but now he would need to expand his horizons to the entire team. He’d talk to Baylor to schedule something and figure out the logistics since he lived on the base and his quarters weren’t exactly designed for an entire multi-Troop SEAL Team to hang out in in comfort. But that would be a thought for another day. Tony just needed to get through this dinner and then he could go back to base and crash. It had been a long couple of weeks.

Tony had ridden his motorcycle to DC that day so he limited himself to just one beer to ensure that he would be able to ride back with no trouble. Mac would be happy to drive his baby back to base, but Tony wanted to avoid that. He enjoyed his independence far too much to allow Baylor to keep driving him around.

The restaurant was lively with the platoon’s conversation, and they freely called out to each other from table to table, across the campfire. The food was good and hearty, and his men were in a good place, and they were all together. Half of his platoon had just come home from an op and they had had no casualties or injuries. It was a good day.

Tony sighed softly, just looking around with satisfaction. He might have had doubts about staying on as the CO of the entire team, but that evening it was looking like a good decision on his part.

“Surveying your domain?” Agent Todd said to him from across the table where she sat, her tone snide.

He looked at her in surprise. “I’m not sure I understand,” he replied cautiously.

“This. You won the case. You’ve taken over the restaurant. That’s what people like you do, isn’t it? You mold the world around you to your liking and you just take it for granted that the rest of us will just fall in line and do what you want,” she continued, her voice ringing clearly.

Immediately the platoon quieted down and Baez was on his feet, brown eyes blazing in anger. Tony shook his head at him, eyeing Spencer who was sitting by him, looking small and frightened now. Even though he was sitting among people who would lay down their lives for him and his father.

Tony cleared his throat and pursed his lips, trying to decide what an appropriate response might be. Clearly the woman had something against him and whatever it was, it absolutely had nothing to do with him since he’d interacted with her barely a handful of times.

“Caitlin Todd! You take that back and apologize right now!” Abby started, before Tony could say a word. He turned to look at his new friend, whose normally pale face was flushed with anger.

“Abby?” Agent Todd looked at her in surprise.

“I can’t _believe_ what you’re saying!” Abby yelled. “You don’t even know Tony, or any of his men. And as for this case, as in all of our cases, I thought we were all out for the same thing? Justice? To put away the people who actually are guilty and to not prosecute or persecute those who aren’t? Does that concept sound at all familiar?”

Agent Todd blushed at Abby’s words. After all, she had implied that Tony had engineered it so Baez would be set free when in fact it was her own team that had proven that someone else was guilty and fully exonerated Baez.

“Just because you’re fucking the man…” she started.

“Oh my _god_ , Kate!” Abby erupted at that. “Whether Tony and I are fucking is absolutely none of your business and has no bearing on what you just said. I don’t understand what your problem is. Why are you being so mean to Tony?”

Agent Todd scowled but stayed silent.

“Is it because Tony’s a nice guy? Or is there something else? Are you that pissed off that a guy as gorgeous as our Commander over here hasn’t tried to flirt with you even once? Is that the problem? Although I bet if he actually did anything that you might construe as flirting then you’d have him on charges of sexual harassment right quick. What the hell is going on with you?” Abby demanded.

“Abs,” Tony put a hand on Abby’s arm. “Hush. It’s fine.”

“It’s _not_ fine!” Abby glared at her fellow NCIS colleague. “She has blinders on and she needs to take them off! You haven’t done anything to deserve any of these things she’s saying!”

Tony glanced around and suppressed a sigh. Everyone was up in arms now. He could hear mutterings about drown-proofing the woman and other helpful suggestions.

“It’s fine,” Tony told her again and looked around the room, giving Spencer a pointed look. He didn’t want the poor kid to be traumatized any further. “Right?”

Baez gave Spencer a quick look before he nodded.

“We can just talk about something else now. Spencer, what was the last movie your dad took you to?” Tony called to the boy, wanting to steer the conversation someplace less controversial.

Spencer looked hesitant but he answered, and that sparked a spirited debate about _Wreck It Ralph_ and other animated movies. Tony argued passionately about his favorites and promised the guys a movie night that Spencer would enjoy, all in all refusing to allow one woman to get him down. Abby was staunchly at his side and kept glaring at the other woman, and at one point they began whispering things to each other. Tony caught Gibbs’ gaze and raised an eyebrow, glancing at Agent Todd, and the older agent sighed and shrugged. Yeah. Obviously the woman was on her own then.

Finally, when they were about done with dinner, and Tony had gone around and socialized with each table, he went to the server and settled up, asking them to put everything on his personal credit card when everything was all said and done, and to add a forty percent tip to make up for their large presence. He was tired and sleepy and he had a long motorcycle ride back to base so he ordered a double espresso for an energy boost.

He sat, sipping his espresso and listening in to the conversation at his table and the surrounding tables. Spencer wanted dessert so a bunch of the men ordered dessert with him. McCloud stood and made a toast to Baez and Spencer, lamenting losing Baez to Tony’s administrative team but that they all wished him well. McCloud also thanked the MCRT for their hard work to see that justice was done, calling out Abby’s excellent work, and then he thanked Tony for opening his wallet for the evening and teasing that he should be the one standing up and speaking, but he knew that Tony would refuse to say anything.

Tony flipped him off with a grin, yelling “It’s not like any of us are fuckin’ getting married. We don’t need a toast, Mac!”

But his men chanted his name, wanting him to say a few words. He rolled his eyes, blushing as he stood. This always reminded him of his childhood and the many insincere toasts he had heard as a child, which was why he hated these things. But, he raised his beer bottle, looking around the room at these people who were his family.

“To Margot and Jen,” he said, finding the words he wanted to say. “We’ll look out for your boys.”

The SEALs intoned the customary “hooyah” and they all drank to Margot and Jen.

Soon after, Tony excused himself without ordering dessert. He made the rounds and made sure that everyone would be able to get home OK. Baez, McCloud and a bunch of his men hugged him. He shook hands with the members of the MCRT, including Agent Todd who didn’t seem to want to meet his eyes, kissed Abby’s cheek, and whispered to her to go get McCloud, before he grabbed his helmet. It was time he took himself back to his quarters and slept for as long as he could. He was exhausted.

He was out the door and on the sidewalk when he heard his name being called. He growled under his breath. He was so. Goddamned. Close to making it out of there! He turned, scowling, expecting Baylor to want something from him. Baylor was the only one who still insisted on calling him by his rank even when they were being informal and Tony had given him his permission to use his first name plenty of times. No one who worked as closely with him as Baylor now did should have to only address him by his rank. But it wasn’t Baylor. It was Agent Gibbs.

“Commander, let me walk you to your… motorcycle,” Gibbs eyed the helmet under Tony’s arm.

Tony suppressed a sigh and nodded. He didn’t know what this was going to be about and he really didn’t have a lot of patience at this point, even for good looking older men with eyes so blue Tony was sure he’d dreamt them a few times already.

“It’s a few blocks away,” he warned the older man.

Gibbs shrugged and indicated for him to lead the way. They walked down the sidewalk and Tony kept flashing him sidelong glances. The man seemed to want to say something, but Tony didn’t have a clue what this could be. Even though he was a naturally garrulous man, Gibbs made him nervous for some reason, and when he was nervous and around people he didn’t know and not under any kind of social obligation to be friendly, or on some op or other with some cover story he needed to sell, he tended to clam up and observe instead of fill in the silences like he did when he was around friendlies. He didn’t quite know why Gibbs made him nervous, but ever since that first time when Gibbs’ blue eyes had lasered on to him as he walked into their work area in the Navy Yard, the man had looked him up and down and Tony felt like he’d actually _seen_ him. Seen who Tony was, underneath all the bluster and the SEAL-trained command persona. And every time they’d met in person since then, it seemed as if all Gibbs did was just _look_ at him.

Truth be told, it made Tony nervous – not that he wasn’t used to being looked at, he knew what people saw when they looked at him – because he didn’t know what _Gibbs_ saw. It didn’t feel like all the man was doing was look at the external packaging but sometimes, he thought Gibbs must surely be seeing him right down to his soul.

So Tony stayed silent as they walked towards the parking structure. Luckily Tony could walk in his usual brisk stride and the former marine had no trouble keeping up with him so their legs ate up the distance in no time at all. Still, it was awkward and painfully silent until they got to the building and Tony pressed the button for the elevator. He’d parked on the sixth floor.

“You should know that Kate doesn’t speak for the team,” Gibbs blurted out when the elevator doors opened.

“What?” Tony couldn’t help the question.

“What she said. About you. She speaks for herself.”

“Yeah, I figured that,” Tony’s lips quirked up into a wry grin. “Especially when Abby went ballistic.”

“Kate is…” Gibbs shook his head. “Kate has…” he stopped, still searching for a word.

“Issues?” Tony suggested.

Gibbs grinned at him. “Putting it lightly,” he agreed. “She was rude and unfair to you. I’ll have words with her.”

Tony shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me,” he sniffed.

It didn’t. He’d spent his childhood worrying about what his father thought about him to no avail, he never won the man over. He’d cared about what people at school thought about him and all that got him was years of being bullied. He’d fallen in love with his piano teacher in high school and that had only gotten him a broken heart. He’d lost any inclination to care about stupid shit like that these days. There were very few people whose opinions about him mattered. He had his SEALs and he had his frat brothers on the rare occasion that he could attend one of their reunions, and that was enough for him. It was more than he’d had his entire life before he started college so he was happy enough.

He stepped into the elevator, expecting Gibbs to excuse himself and leave, but the man walked right in with him.

“I guess when you say you’re going to walk someone to their motorcycle, you’re going to walk them all the way to it, huh?” he teased the older man.

And wonder of wonders. Was that an amused smirk from the man? Gibbs was one of the grumpiest people Tony had ever met and he’d met quite a few grumpy men in his lifetime. His own father being one of them. At least his father had always seemed annoyed by his presence and happy enough to take his anger out on him. But he didn’t get the sense that Gibbs would behave in that way towards him or anyone else, though. Gibbs wasn’t trying to be extra unfriendly towards him. He was just a cranky motherfucker in general. Tony understood that about the man. But now, Gibbs’ eyes crinkled up a little and Tony couldn’t help but think what a good looking man he was, if he would only smile a little more. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning back at the man.

They walked to Tony’s bike – not parked in the handicap access spot right by the elevator, thank you so much Agent Todd. Although Tony supposed he couldn’t blame her for that assumption. Even though he did have the handicap license plate on his vehicle, he couldn’t expect someone to see a big motorcycle in a handicap space and not immediately assume that the person was just being an asshole. He himself was of the opinion that if he was able enough to ride his motorcycle then he was able enough to walk an extra sixty steps from a regular parking space. In fact, he didn’t usually like to park in the handicap spot. He’d just been tired and in a rush that day. Excuses aside, they were at his bike now. He held his hand out to Gibbs again, exchanging another handshake.

“I appreciate what you did for Baez and Spencer,” he told the agent. “Baez and I go way back. He was my teammate and my chief for practically my entire career, and has had my back and saved my life more than just this last time. It would have killed him if he had to leave Spencer.”

Gibbs nodded. “Justice. That’s what we all want.”

Tony smiled again.

“Is he retiring?” Gibbs asked. “What McCloud said earlier?”

Tony sighed and leaned against his bike. Without thinking about it, he rubbed his bad leg, which always, always seemed to hurt. Especially when he was tired. He stopped the movement when he realized that Gibbs was watching him. “Not retiring per se, but he asked to be transferred off the team. Originally he thought maybe he would have to ring out, but we worked it out so he’ll be on my admin staff and help me run the troops.”

“Because of Spencer?”

Tony nodded. “He can’t go on ops anymore. Margot and Jen are gone. Her family is obviously fucked up, they’re all bigots like Claire is, and we’re all what’s left of Baez’s family. So he can’t leave the poor kid and be deployed or sent on ops. There’s no one left to look out for the kid, now.”

Gibbs nodded. It made sense.

“I’m OK with it, though,” Tony made a face. “I’m glad he’s out of the line of fire now since I can’t be out there to keep him out of trouble anymore. I hated it when he and my team went out without me while I was rehabbing.” Tony wasn’t sure why he was volunteering all this information, but Gibbs had asked, and he’d been an active duty marine at one time. He would understand what Baez was going through.

Gibbs nodded understandingly. “You’re a good CO,” he told the man. “Your men are devoted to you, and you don’t see that very often.”

“We’re a tight bunch. For some of us, we’re the only family we have.”

Gibbs gave him another nod and a thoughtful gaze. “I don’t suppose you do anything with rescued puppies or kittens, do you?”

“ _What_?” Tony gave him a strange look. What the hell was the marine smoking tonight? “No,” he shook his head. “I don’t have a pet. Never had the time for it. Although Baylor’s trying to talk me into getting a goldfish for the office. Something about adding color and personality?”

Gibbs chuckled at that, the sound lighting something up inside Tony. “Might go well with the Y. pestis.”

Tony snorted at that before he laughed. Then he couldn’t stop himself from yawning and stretching, and rubbing his leg again. Damn the pain that refused to let up even though the stupid fucking thing wasn’t even there anymore. “I’m going to have to go, Agent Gibbs. It’s been a long couple of weeks and I really could do with some shuteye.”

“Thanks for dinner,” Gibbs gave him another nod. “It was good seeing you again, Commander.”

“Tony,” Tony told him. What the hell. The man could use his first name if he wanted.

“Tony,” Gibbs repeated, and if Tony didn’t know better he’d have described Gibbs’ tone as shy and maybe a little flirtatious?

There was a pause as Tony waited for Gibbs to say more. “I believe this is where you offer me your first name, Agent Gibbs?” he grinned wryly at the man.

Gibbs cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh, everybody just calls me Gibbs. My first name is… yeah. It’s just Gibbs.” He looked so uncomfortable at that.

“You don’t _look_ like a Bartholomew,” Tony pursed his lips and gazed thoughtfully at the man. Holy god, was he _flirting_ with Gibbs? Agent Stick Up His Ass Gibbs? Was he _that_ sleep deprived? No matter how blue the man’s eyes were, Tony had been pretty careful to stay away from military men. They all had their hang ups, himself more than most, so he’d pretty much only ever slept with civilians.

Gibbs’ snort of laughter surprised Tony. “No, don’t suppose I do. But I don’t think I look much like a Leroy either.” Gibbs looked pained by the words.

“ _Leroy_?” Tony repeated, knowing that he sounded incredulous.

“Leroy Jethro Gibbs,” Gibbs said slowly.

“Leroy. Jethro.” Tony broke into soft chuckles. He had some hillbilly jokes he could break out. He really, really did. “Man…”

“Yeah,” Gibbs raised his eyebrows. “I know. Sadly, I’m named after my dad’s best friend and wartime buddy.”

“Got it,” Tony nodded, trying to stifle his laughter. It wouldn’t do to make fun of the agent. “Gibbs it is.”

Gibbs grinned at him. “Take care of yourself.”

“I’m good at that,” Tony gave him a saucy wink.

“Maybe you can look me up again when you’re in town. Be happy to buy you a drink.”

Tony knew he was gaping now. Did Agent Gibbs, he of the pretty blue eyes and the shy smile and the possible slight hints of flirting just ask him out for a drink, kind of, sort of?

“Um…” he knew he was staring at Gibbs but he couldn’t stop himself.

Gibbs handed him a card. “My number,” he said gruffly. “Cell on the back.”

“OK,” Tony took it and Gibbs gave him a hopeful grin. He could see Gibbs’ eyes darken with want when he slipped the card into his breast pocket. “Thanks.”

Gibbs nodded and watched while Tony slid the helmet on. His helmet was one of those full safety helmets. He flipped the dark visor up to expose his face and carefully buckled it on. Mac had been lecturing him about his safety lately.

“See ya around?” Gibbs sounded tentative, but hopeful.

“I’ll call you,” Tony patted the pocket where he’d slipped Gibbs’ card in.

“Good,” Gibbs nodded.

Tony kickstarted his Ducati, flipped his visor down and rode off, throwing Gibbs a wave as he roared away and for crying out loud, Gibbs actually waved back. Tony didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he thought for sure he was going to call the man. Or maybe text him. Maybe they could flirt some more. He wouldn’t mind it. Not at all a hardship to be forced to flirt with someone like Gibbs. Even if his parents had saddled him with a name like Leroy.

Maybe he needed to take a closer look at one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, even though he was a marine and Tony had rules about sleeping with military men. After all, things had changed so much for him, all caused by one event and the loss of one limb. He was still trying to figure out a new normal for himself. Maybe Gibbs wouldn’t mind figuring things out with him.

Whatever happened though, he knew that he was there to stay. He might not have chosen to leave the field, but that decision had been out of his hands. With all that he’d been through, he still had his health, and he still had his brothers. Everything changed, and he was changing with it, going where the wind blew. And really, that was OK.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all she wrote, folks!
> 
> Seriously, I cannot thank you all enough for the kind of support and feedback that you've given me and this story. It is different and it's an AU, so I wasn't sure how you would like it. I was hoping after I posted the first chapter, that you wouldn't mind that I made Tony a SEAL instead of NCIS, but then you guys totally blew me away with your love for SEAL!Tony. And then in the second chapter, I hoped that it wouldn't upset you too much that I'd hurt Tony as badly as I did (off screen, but still) but you guys absolutely again embraced Tony, disabilities and all. You're all so awesome. I don't have the words to thank you :D I hoped you liked how the story ended. It was kind of hopeful, right?
> 
> smoxen, I hope you enjoyed your story! I had a lot of fun making this AU 'verse. Thanks for the sexy photo prompt. You totally jumpstarted the muse with it!
> 
> I make no promises, but the muse and I have had so much fun in this 'verse, we might hang out for a while. We'll see though. The muse has been incredibly fickle this year... :) And yes, I know I still have the ending of The Inheritance to finish. Maybe enough tim tam slams and the muse will get her ass in gear :D
> 
> OK, first the songs that helped me write this. I listened to two songs. The title comes from the lyrics of one of them (the Kansas song):  
> * [Dust in the Wind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12DeNdF0KPA) (Kansas)  
> * [Reminder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1OAcRVw7js) (Mumford and Sons)  
> Pretty much all of Tony's POV was Dust in the Wind, and all of Gibbs' POV was Reminder, if that helps. Tony is going through a lot of change and Dust in the Wind felt right for his mindset.
> 
> I researched Navy uniforms and used [this wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Navy) as my main source, in order to dress Tony and his SEALs.
> 
> I read up on Navy SEALs and how they were set up in order to (hopefully) lend some credibility to this story. [This wiki page on Navy SEALs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_SEALs) helped me greatly.
> 
> I also tried to research the kind of lingo that SEALs might use. So the threats that McCloud made against Kate in the Kate chapter, for instance, I borrowed from the language that SEALs use. Bear in mind again that I have no personal knowledge about this, and so I googled it and read up on it. The following are some fun sites that might help with some of the SEAL terminology that I used (hopefully somewhat correctly)  
> * [Shit Navy SEALs say](https://sofrep.com/2459/shit-navy-seals-say/)  
> * [Navy SEALs slang](https://navydads.ning.com/forum/topics/navy-seals-slang)  
> * [Glossary of US Navy slang](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_U.S._Navy_slang)  
> The last link was quite overwhelming. LOL. I didn't explain any of the terms used in the story so if you see something feel free to ask, or go through the above sites. It didn't feel right that Kate would necessarily understand SEAL terminology, and when in Tony's POV, he wouldn't explain things to himself in his head. I tried writing it that way and it felt silly, so I skipped all that. :D
> 
> I would also like to thank Loolph for reminding me that it is Major Mass Spec (correction has been made in the previous chapter) and Rita A Edgerly for pointing out what Baylor's rank should be (correction made in the previous chapter) so thanks for that! These details do matter! :D
> 
> As always, all remaining errors are my own.
> 
> So, thank you again for all your support. You guys have seriously, seriously, made my week with your comments/kudos/bookmarks and general reception of this fic. Thank you!!!
> 
> <3  
> -j  
> xoxo


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